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FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 


PORTRAIT    OK    liROl  HER    FRANCIS 

In  the  Church  of  the  Sacro  Speco,  Subiaco 


Francis  of  assisi 


BY 

ANNA  M.  STODDART 


WITH   SIXTEEN   ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

E.     P.     DUTTON     &    CO. 

1903 


en 


IS* 


s 


TO 

MY    FRIEND    AND    PASTOR 

ROBERT  FORMAN   HORTON 


PREFACE 


THIS  book  is  meant  to  be  a  popular  account 
of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  of  his  ideal  and  his 
attainment,  relieved  on  a  background  of  history 
essential  to  its  full  understanding.  It  has  no 
pretension  to  be  a  work  for  students  of  the  period 
and  its  most  important  movement.  But  it  has 
been  written  in  Rome  and  Assisi  with  constant  in- 
debtedness to  the  researches  of  living  Franciscan 
scholars. 

Not  only  has  the  writer  profited  by  what  M. 
Paul  Sabatier  and  his  colleagues  have  brought 
to  light,  but  she  has  enjoyed  the  rare  advantage 
of  M.  Sabatier's  personal  interest  in  her  work, 
and  of  his  careful  revision  of  a  large  portion  of  her 
manuscript,  and  his  cordial  encouragement.  To 
him  her  grateful  acknowledgment  of  such  price- 
less stimulus  and  assistance  is  first  due. 

She  wishes  to  thank  her  friend  Miss  Pipe  and 
Count  Antonio  Fiumi,  President  of  the  Inter- 
national Society  of  Franciscan  Study,  for  their 
valued  help  in  choosing  and  securing  illustrations. 


viii  PREFACE 

To  Signer  Oreste  Rossi,  of  the  Hotel  Subasio, 
she  offers  her  sincere  recognition  of  his  constant 
kindness  in  supplying  her  with  local  information 
and  in  lending  her  books  of  the  greatest  use  to 
her  work. 

Many  other  distinguished  Assisans  helped  her 
in  details,  and  of  these  she  would  like  to  mention 
here  Professor  Alessandri,  Professor  Casali  and 
Father  Luigi  Fratini. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I.— HISTORICAL 


CHAPTER   I 

PAQB 

Poverty  and  Holiness i 

Poverty  and  Holiness — Brahmanic  Conception — Begging 
Students — Abuses — The  Sophists — The  First  Roman 
Christians — The  Hermits — St.  Jerome — The  Bene- 
dictines— In  England — Their  Decay  and  Reform — The 
Augustinians — Influence  of  the  Papacy. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Church  in  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Cen- 
turies       13 

Early  System — Growth  of  Hierarchical  Body — Rome  the 
Seat  of  Ecclesiastical  Power — Change  in  the  Character 
of  the  Church — Its  Feudal  Possessions — Its  Decadence 
in  the  Ninth  Century — Its  Restoration  by  Henry  III. 
— Gregory  VII. — Investitures — Struggle  between 
Papacy  and  Empire — Arnold  of  Brescia — The  Peace 
of  Venice. 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III 

PAGE 

Climax  of  the  Papal  Power 27 

Three  Popes  in  Exile— Clement  III.  and  the  Romans— The 
Great  Crusade— Henry  VI.— Celestine  III.— Tus- 
culum— Innocent  III.— The  Emperor  Otto— Francis 
at  the  Lateran — Assisi  in  the  Remote  Past — Under 
Rome — Its  First  Christian  Martyrs — Goths,  Huns, 
Lombards  and  Germans  in  Assisi — Its  Troubled  Civic 
History. 

PART  II.— BIOGRAPHICAL 

CHAPTER  I 

Francis,  Son  of  Pier  Bernardone.  1181— 1204    -        -      48 

Birth  of  Francis — His  Parents — Peter  Waldo — Childhood 
of  Francis — At  School — As  a  Youth — The  Commune 
of  Assisi — Francis  as  Citizen  and  Soldier — Prisoner  in 
Perugia — His   Return. 

CHAPTER  II 

Conversion.  1204 — 1206 67 

Illness — The  Porta  Nuova — Walter  of  Brienne — The 
Expedition  from  Assisi — Return — Penitence — The 
Vision  of  Poverty — Farewell  to  Friends — The  Poor 
— At  Rome — Heresies — San  Damiano — Renuncia- 
tion. 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Brothers  Minor.  1206 — 1210 86 

The  Benedictine  Convent — Gubbio — Cesena — San  Dami- 
ano again — Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli — Francis  be- 
gins to  Preach — His  First  Followers — The  First 
Mission — A  Crisis — The  Second  Mission — Pope  Inno- 
cent III.  and  the  Order. 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  IV 

PAGE 

The  Three  Orders.  1210 — 1212 109 

The  Return  from  Rome— Orte— Rivo  Torto — Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli — The  Carceri — Increase  of  the  Order 
—The  Order  of  Penitents— Clare  degli  Sciffi— The 
Poor  Ladies  of  Penitence — San  Damiano — Rule  of 
the  Second  Order. 

CHAPTER  V 

Years  of  Increase.  1212 — 1218 128  I 

Failure  of  First  Attempts  at  Foreign  Missions — Monte 
Alverna  given  to  the  Order — Increase  of  the  Sisters 
of  Poverty— Accession  of  Scholars— Cannara  and 
Bevagna— Sermon  to  the  Birds— First  Visit  to  Monte 
Alverna — Missionary  Itinerary  through  Central  Italy 
— God's  Minstrels — Lateran  Council  of  1215 — Decree 
affecting  the  New  Orders — Innocent's  Death — Ugolino 
—The  Pentecostal  Chapters— Foreign  Missions — 
Brother  Elias— Francis  in  Rome— St.  Dominic — 
Subiaco  and  Oldest  Portrait  of  Francis — Chapter  of 
1218 — First  Murmurs  against  the  Rule — Dominic 
and  Poverty. 

CHAPTER  VI 

Years  of  Trouble.  1218— 1223 150 

Chapter  of  121 8 — Francis  in  Egypt  and  Palestine — Changes 
made  during  his  Absence — His  Return — At  Bologna — 
Ugolino's  Management — Michaelmas  Chapter  of  1220 
— The  New  Rule — Pietro  de  Cattani  appointed  General 
— Francis  and  Dominic  in  Rome — Rule  for  the  Third 
Order — Elias  appointed  General — The  Revolution  of 
the  Order — I'he  Rule  of  1223. 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII 

PAGE 

Last  Years.  1223 — 1226 173 

The  Rule  of  1223 — The  Prsesepio  of  Greccio — The  Friars 
in  England — Monte  Alverna — The  Stigmata — Canticle 
of  the  Sun — Rieti— Siena — Bagnara — Assisi — Bishop 
and  Magnates  at  Variance— Francis  makes  Peace, 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Testament,  Death  and  Canonisation.  1226 — 1230     -    194 

Francis  at  the  Vescovado — Laudes  Domini — His  Pre- 
occupation with  the  Future  of  the  Order — Mental 
Agony — Letter  to  the  Order — Welcome  Sister  Death — 
Letter  and  Message  to  Clare — Benediction  of  Assisi — 
The  Testament — Jacopa  dei  Settisoli — Death — Funeral 
Procession — San  Damiano — San  Giorgio — Letter 
written  by  Elias — The  Collis  Inferni — Speculum 
Perfectionis — Gregory  IX. — Elias  Deposed — Building 
of  San  Francesco — Canonisation  of  St.  Francis — 
Completion  of  the  Lower  Church — The  Saint's  Body 
hidden  by  Elias. 


PART  III 
St.  Francis  in  Art 319 

The  Earliest  Biographical  Frescoes — The  First  Portraits — 
St.  Francis  by  Cimabue — By  Lorenzetti — Giotto's 
Frescoes  in  the  Upper  Church — Above  the  High  Altar 
in  the  Lower  Church — Santa  Croce  in  Florence 
— Fra  Angelico — Benozzo  Gozzoli  at  Montefalco — 
Ghirlandaio — Benedetto  da  Maiano — Donatello — 
Andrea  Delia  Robbia — Garofalo — Agostino  Carracci. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Portrait  of  Brother  Francis  in  the  Church  of  the  Sacro  Speco, 

Subiaco         .......        Frontispiece 

Incident  in  the  youth  of  Francis  [from  Oiottd' s fresco  in  the 

Upper  Church  at  Assist)  .  .  .  .to  face  p.  62 
The  Crucifix  of  San  Damiano  .  .  .  .to  face  p.  81 
The  Renunciation  {from  Giotto' s  fresco  in  the  Upper  Church 

at  Assisi) to  face  p.     85 

Pope  Innocent  III.'s  Dream  {fro7n  Giotto's  fresco  in  the 

Upper  Church  at  Assisi)  .  .  .  .to  face  p.  106 
Francis  and  His  First  Followers  presenting  the  Rule  to 

Pope  Innocent  III.  [from  Giotto's  fresco  m  the  Upper 

Church  at  Assisi) to  face  p.  108 

Sermon  to  the  Birds  {fro7n   Giotto's  fresco  in  the   Upper 

Church  at  Assisi) to  face  p.  135 

Francis  Preaching  before  Pope  Honorius  III.  {fro7n  Giotto's 

fresco  in  the  Upper  Church  at  Assisi)  .  .  to  face  p.  144 
Francis  before  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  (froTn  Giotto's  fresco  in 

the  Church  of  Santa  Croce,  Florence)  .  .  to  face  p.  152 
Presentation  of  the  Rule  of  1223  to  Pope  Honorius  III. 

(from    Ghirlandaio' s  fresco   in   the   Church  of  Santa 

Trinitd,  Florence) to  face  p.  173 

The  Benediction   of  Brother  Leo   [from   the    original  in 

the  Sacristy  of  the  Upper  Church  at  Assisi)  to  face  p.  180 
Francis    Blessing    Assisi    {from  the  picture  by  Benouvile 

in  the  Louvre) to  face  p.  202 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Death  of  Francis  [from  Giotto's  fresco  in  the  Church 
of  Santa  Croce,  Florence)    .        .        .        .to  face  p.  206 

Appearance  of  Francis  just  after  Death  to  the  Bishop  of 
Assisi,  and  to  a  Dying  Friar  {from  Giotto's  fresco 
in  the  Ohurch  oj  Santa  Croce,  Florence)      to  face  p.  208 

Early  Portrait  of  Francis  {now  in  tlie  Sacristy  of  the  Upper 

Church  at  Assisi) to  face  p.  221 

Statue  of  Francis  by  Donatello  {in  the  Church  of  S. 
Antonio,  Fadua) to  face  p.  236 


FRANCIS    OF    ASSISI 

PART  I 
HISTORICAL 

CHAPTER  I 

POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS 

Poverty  and  Holiness — Brahmanic  Conception  —  Begging 
Students — Abuses — The  Sophists  —  The  First  Roman 
Christians — The  Hermits — St.  Jerome — The  Benedic- 
tines—  In  England —  Their  Decay  and  Reform —  The 
Augustinians — Influence  of  the  Papacy. 

POVERTY  and  holy  living  have  always  been  asso- 
ciated in  those  European  and  Asiatic  civilisa- 
tions capable  of  conceiving  the  spiritual  life.  "In 
the  wide  East,  where  all  wisdom  sprung,"  poverty 
and  holiness  were  united  by  an  indissoluble  tie.  No 
code  of  morals,  no  philosophy,  no  benediction  could 
be  received  as  genuine  from  men  dwelling  in  luxury, 
however  exalted  their  office,  however  eagerly  sought 
their  material  gifts  and  influence.  The  line  of 
demarcation  was  absolute — the  gifts  of  this  world 
came  from  its  own  princes  and  potentates,  the  gifts 
from  above  from  those  who  had  abandoned  the 
things  of  this  world,  and,  having  food  and  clothing, 
were   content  to   seek  after  the  spiritual  life  and 


2  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

the  wisdom  that  is  given  to  its  votaries.  Brahmans 
and  Buddhists  alike  mainti\ined  the  impossibility  of 
reconciling  God  and  Mammon.  If  we  constrain  our 
minds  into  an  effort  to  realise  what  Brahmanism 
was  in  its  earliest  course,  we  shall  find  in  the  still 
limpid  waters  of  its  fountain-head  a  sense  of  the 
presence  of  God  in  the  sphere  of  man's  obligations, 
and  along  with  it  the  experience  that  this  mar- 
vellous presence  became  obscured  when  men  sought 
wealth,  luxury,  even  comfort — each  accession  to 
material  well-being  acting  as  a  veil  fold  on  fold  to 
blind  the  spiritual  vision. 

Thus,  the  sacred  rites  which  initiated  the  Brah- 
man novice  involved  a  long  period  of  poverty  ; 
Avithout  poverty  his  faculties  were  inadequate  to 
penetrate  the  mysteries  of  spirituality.  During 
many  years  of  study  he  begged  his  bread,  and 
others  honoured  their  own  domestic  life  by  filling 
his  bowl  with  rice  and  adding  what  could  be  spared 
of  savoury-  condiment.  It  is  an  indication,  too,  of 
the  position  of  women  in  those  remote  ages,  that  he 
was  enjoined  to  beg  from  the  woman,  the  mistress 
of  all  household  economies,  not  from  her  husband, 
whose  labour  provided  them.  Some  perception 
there  was,  before  the  wide-spread  degradation  of 
oriental  womanhood,  of  the  greater  purity,  the  more 
delicate  spirituality  of  the  pristine  feminine  nature. 

"  Bhavate  Bhiksham  Deki,"  the  student  begged  at 
the  door,  and  there  was  no  taint  of  squalor,  failure, 
imposture  about  the  words,  for  it  was  well  under- 
stood   that    he    was    in    his    novitiate,    learning   to 


POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS  3 

apprehend,  to  meditate,  to  preserve  his  soul  in 
perfect  peace,  unentangled  by  the  cares  of  the 
trivial,  workaday,  transitory  world,  for  whose  help 
and  guidance  he  was  necessary. 

The  act,  indeed,  was  part  of  his  study,  for  it 
assisted  him  in  the  toilsome  achievement  of  self- 
effacement. 

The  whole  custom,  revered  as  it  was  throughout 
the  civihsed  East,  sensed  as  a  national  endowment 
of  research,  perhaps  better  in  its  effects  upon  the 
nobler  students  than  are  the  costly  colleges  of  our 
Western  world.  Even  now,  the  Brahman  has  in 
him  a  two-fold  capacity — that  of  sharing  in  the 
practical  Hfe  of  to-day,  profiting  by  its  chances, 
manipulating  its  possibihties,  rising  to  wealth,  power 
and  political  importance,  and  that  of  renouncing  all 
these  at  the  call  of  his  spiritual  nature  and  retiring 
to  poverty,  meditation  and  seclusion. 

Of  course,  the  further  we  follow  the  Brahmanic 
conception  do^vn  the  long  stream  of  time,  the 
more  we  become  conscious  of  its  decay,  and  of  the 
increasing  multitude  of  beggars  little  hallowed  bv 
sanctity  of  life.  It  was  inevitable  that  as  popula- 
tions increased,  their  idler  and  lazier  constituents 
should  make  the  life  of  sacred  poverty  a  means  of 
mere  brazen  beggary.  Such  abuses  are  incident 
to  all  creeds  inculaiting  what  we  call  charity.  In 
every  Christian  countrj'  how  many  are  there  who 
maintain  themselves  by  unabashed  and  mendacious 
mendicancy  without  any  return  whatever  except 
c>Tiical  ingratitude.       Every  great  age   fallen    into 


4  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

decay  shows  like  symptoms.  Thus,  in  Greece, 
when  seers,  thinkers,  lawgivers,  and  patriots  were 
a  splendid  memory,  the  heritage  of  their  deeds  and 
wisdom  dwindled  to  a  residuum  of  cant  phrases, 
and  in  every  household  might  be  seen  a  professor 
of  wisdom  and  poetry,  maintained  as  a  kind  of 
family  adviser,  although  little  meriting  his  main- 
tenance. What  had  been  the  free  gift  of  the 
world's  greatest  thinkers  degenerated  to  a  com- 
pendium of  sophistries  cleverly  handled  by  beggars. 
Influences  from  the  East  abounded  in  imperial 
Rome,  and  this  principle  of  the  separation  of  the 
spiritual  from  the  physical  life  was  well  known. 
And  as  Christianity  made  its  way  amongst  slaves 
and  paupers,  the  association  of  poverty  with  faith 
in  the  Man  of  poverty  and  of  sorrow  was  inevitable. 
Such  wealthy  Romans  as  joined  the  humble  wor- 
shippers of  our  Lord  made  valid  their  confession 
by  sharing  their  goods  amongst  their  fellow- 
Christians,  by  voluntary  abnegation  of  wealth,  by 
tending  the  sick  and  the  dying,  by  care  for  the 
decorous  burial  of  the  dead.  The  exquisite  stories 
of  saints  and  martyrs,  who  lived  and  laboured 
during  the  centuries  of  persecution,  bear  full  testi- 
mony that  the  Christian  life  was  lived  in  Christ's 
way  by  His  genuine  followers.  For  Christ  Himself 
not  only  preached  a  gospel  infinitely  more  con- 
soling to  the  poor  than  to  the  rich,  but  He  indicated 
on  more  than  one  occasion  that  it  was  a  gospel 
difficult  of  acceptance  by  the  rich.  And  His  own 
methods  were  those  of  the  East.     Followed  by  a 


POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS  5 

group  of  men,  either  labourers,  or  having  sacrificed 
lucrative  posts  for  His  sake,  He  passed  from  village 
to  village,  healing,  consoling,  teachhig,  living  on 
the  hospitality  of  the  villagers,  not  refusing  that  of 
the  vi^ealthy,  but  alert  to  point  out  the  immeasur- 
ably greater  value  of  the  gifts  of  the  poor. 

The  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  gospel  of 
mutual  help  constantly  given  in  the  commerce  of 
daily  life.  It  is  not  the  gospel  of  individual 
accumulation  of  material  wealth,  against  which  He 
hurled  His  most  scathing  invective, — "Thou  fool ! '' 
And  for  this  reason,  that  He  knew  what  wealth  does 
for  the  spirits  of  men,  devitalising,  impoverishing, 
perhaps  quenching  for  ever. 

It  was  not  wonderful,  therefore,  that  in  the 
decadence  of  Rome,  when  her  life  was  corrupt  to 
the  core.  Christian  men  and  women  fled  into  the 
wilderness  to  practise  the  poverty  and  holiness 
impossible  in  the  cities,  and  that  hermits  became 
the  forerunners  of  the  monastic  orders. 

Nor  was  it  wonderful  that  the  sanctity,  learning 
and  curative  skill  of  the  early  hermits  obtained  for 
them  a  prestige  which  heralded  degeneration. 
Because,  when  the  idle  and  the  vicious  found  that, 
by  simulating  sanctity  and  seeking  solitude,  they 
received  veneration  and  support  from  the  country 
people  around  their  caves  and  huts,  they  hastened 
to  assume  a  virtue  which  they  did  not  practise,  and 
in  time  brought  contempt  and  suspicion  upon  the 
whole  system.  From  its  inadequacy  sprang  the 
earliest  of  the  monastic  orders. 


6  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Perhaps  St.  Jerome  may  be  accounted  as  the 
first  of  the  monks  of  the  West,  although  he  began 
as  a  hermit  m  Egypt.  But,  in  response  to  the 
petition  of  certain  patrician  Romans,  he  founded  a 
primitive  monastery  at  Bethlehem,  where  both  men 
and  women  practised  the  life  of  self-denial  and 
devotion  under  his  direction.  In  later  centuries 
the  small  order  of  the  Jeronomites  perpetuated  his 
Rule,  which  admitted  of  industry,  manufacture  and 
gradual  wealth.  But  St.  Jerome  is  not  so  intimately 
associated  as  is  Benedict  with  the  institution  of 
what  became  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  en- 
during systems  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Benedict,  who  was  born  at  Norcia  in  Umbria, 
belonged  to  the  end  of  the  fifth  and  first  half  of 
the  sixth  centuries.  It  was  an  age  when  the 
hermit  life  seemed  to  be  the  only  refuge  from 
depravity  and  violence,  and  in  his  school-boy  years 
at  Rome  he  revolted  from  the  corruption  around 
him.  Wealth,  rank  and  power  seemed  to  be  only 
agents  of  vice,  cruelty  and  effeminacy,  and  his  pure 
young  spirit  turned  from  all  to  seek  in  poverty  and 
solitude  that  communion  with  the  immortal  and 
invisible,  which  was  not  denied  to  him.  But  as  the 
fame  of  his  holiness  and  its  supernatural  efficacy 
went  abroad,  numbers  of  refugees  collected  about 
him,  and  he  was  forced  to  organise  them  into 
communities  of  twelve,  each  under  a  superior,  in 
simple  accord  with  the  example  of  Christ  and  His 
disciples.  And  on  the  summit  of  Monte  Cassino  he 
founded  his  chief  monastery,  whose  Rule  comprised 


POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS  7 

not  only  the  vows  of  poverty,  chastity  and  obedience 
already  known  to  the  hermits,  but  daily  manual 
labour  for  seven  hours  and  a  novitiate  lasting  a 
whole  year  before  the  final  vows  might  be  taken. 
The  metropolis  of  monasticism  was  founded  in 
poverty  and  for  poverty — poverty  and  hard  work 
being  clearly  recognised  as  tutelary  against  corporeal 
and  mental  backsliding. 

Already,  however,  a  missionary  colony  in  an 
island  of  the  northern  seas,  which  had  not  heard  of 
Benedict,  was  practising  a  missionary  Rule  on  the 
lines  laid  down  by  Christ  Himself,  and  from  lona 
brothers  went  two  by  two  throughout  Scotland  and 
Northern  England,  crossing  the  dangerous  seas  in 
fragile  coracles,  living  with  the  wild  and  lonely 
Caledonians,  Scots,  Picts  and  Angles,  carrying 
neither  purse  nor  scrip,  but  bearing  in  their  hearts 
the  love  of  men  ;  in  their  memories  and  on  their 
lips  the  story  of  salvation  ;  in  their  hands  power  to 
heal,  to  help,  to  work  with  the  toiling  poor  amongst 
whom  they  sojourned. 

The  Benedictines  slowly  degenerated  from  the 
practice  of  their  founder's  Rule,  and  by  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century  had  almost  forgotten  his  injunc- 
tions. Laziness  and  idleness  triumphed  as  usual, 
where  Christ  was  no  longer  the  example.  And  worse 
than  these,  although  inevitable  to  these,  crimes  of 
the  blackest  character — so  that  the  better  monks, 
who  sought  to  restore  the  primitive  Rule,  ran  con- 
stant risk  of  murder,  and  left  the  monasteries  for 
the  hermitage  again.     A  great  resuscitation  of  the 


8  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

hermit  system  belongs  to  the  niiiUi,  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries. 

The  last  of  these  was  an  age  of  monastic  reform, 
and  many  offshoots  from  Benedictinism  began  in  the 
full  inspiration  of  poverty  and  sanctity,  to  forget 
and  betray  both  when  their  reputation  brought 
offerings  and  bequests  of  land  and  wealth. 

Gregory  the  Great  sent  Benedictine  missionaries 
to  England,  who  came  into  collision  with  the 
Christian  Church  amongst  the  Britons  of  various 
Celtic  stocks.  These  were  gifted  with  a  somewhat 
critical  spirituality,  and  preferred  the  life  and  teach- 
ing of  our  Lord  to  ecclesiastical  authority  ;  they 
were  obtuse  therefore  to  the  advantages  of  a  super- 
imposed code  and  hierarchy.  This  element  in  the 
mixed  population  prevented  the  absolute  domination 
of  Rome  in  Great  Britain,  maintaining  a  wholesome 
resistance  which  shaped  the  national  life,  although 
it  contained  the  germs  of  future  schisms  and  dis- 
ruptions. But  these  were  almost  invariably  a 
protest  against  the  worldliness  of  the  Church  and 
an  effort  to  restore  the  simple  worship  of  apostolic 
times. 

The  other  great  monastic  order  took  its  name, 
although  scarcely  its  origin,  from  St.  Augustine, 
Bishop  of  Hippo.  Its  communities  appeared  in  the 
ninth  century,  when  Pope  Leo  antl  the  P],mperor 
Lothaire  collected  all  the  clergy  who  were  outside 
of  the  Benedictine  Rule  and  placed  them  under  a 
Rule  said  to  have  been  promulgated  by  St.  Augus- 
tine.    Four  centuries  later  the  hermits  and  other 


POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS  9 

free  lances  of  the  life  of  poverty  and  contemplation 
had  become  less  a  help  than  a  hindrance  to  the 
Church,  as  they  evaded  discipline,  and  were  mere 
bold  beggars,  whose  practice  was  less  devotion 
than  squalor.  These  the  Popes  forced  into  the 
Augustinian  Order,  and  Alexander  IV.  added  the 
scourge  to  their  penitential  exercises. 

From  this  order  sprang  many  branches,  amongst 
them  the  Knights  Templars  and  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  for  it  appealed  more  to  the  noble  classes 
than  did  the  Benedictines,  beloved  of  the  poor.  It 
is,  therefore,  somewhat  astonishing  to  discover  that 
when  the  Mendicant  Orders  arose  they  adopted 
the  Rule  of  Augustine  rather  than  of  Benedict. 

Of  the  sources  of  decay  in  these  communities 
much  has  been  written.  It  may  be  taken  as 
indubitable  that  the  chief  agent  in  their  failure 
was  the  Papacy,  its  example,  its  struggle  to  become 
a  world  power,  its  success,  and  its  consequent  re- 
moval of  the  Church  from  the  sphere  within  whose 
limits  the  Divine  Founder  had  placed  its  functions 
and  aspirations.  But  the  almost  incredible  per- 
versity of  the  Popes  in  steadily  disregarding  Christ's 
injunctions  belongs  to  the  history  of  their  conflict 
with  the  Empire,  and  in  this  chapter  we  can  only 
glance  at  its  disastrous  operation  upon  every  organ 
and  function  of  the  visible  Church. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  a  whole  generation  see 
what  the  one  witness  to  God  can  see  dm'ing  its 
existence,  but  had  the  Head  of  the  Church  on  earth 
been  that  witness,  how  different  now  would  be  its 


10  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

relation  to  God  and  its  influence  upon  men.  A 
line  of  Popes  spiritually  descended  from  Gregory 
the  First  might  have  saved  the  Church  from  its 
materialism,  its  polytheism,  its  despotism,  its  wars, 
cruelties  and  crimes,  might  have  kept  its  light  clear, 
fed  by  the  Divine  oil  of  humility,  charity  and 
unworldliness,  not  quenched  by  assumptions  and 
dogmas  founded  on  impious  forgery  and  unholy 
ambition. 

*' My  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  proclaimed 
Christ,  and  it  was  this  kingdom  which  the  Popes 
declined  to  establish,  preferring  to  yield  to  just 
those  temptations  which  our  Lord  in  the  wilderness 
repelled  and  overcame. 

Almost  every  so-called  heresy  from  the  ninth 
century  onwards  was  a  courageous  protest  against 
the  materialism,  arrogance,  ambition  and  luxurious 
living  of  the  whole  hierarchical  body  and  a  demand 
for  the  Church's  return  to  the  simple  organisation  of 
apostolic  times. 

The  Cathari,  or  Albigenses,  the  Poor  Men  of 
Lyons,  the  Arnoldists,  the  followers  of  Pons  of 
Perigord,  laid  long  and  apparently  futile  siege  to 
the  false  foundations  of  the  mighty  ecclesiastical 
fortress,  and  if,  for  the  most  part,  they  were  ruth- 
lessly crushed,  still  their  mines  and  galleries  facili- 
tated the  explosion  when  it  came  in  the  form  of 
the  Protestant  disruption.  That  some  of  these 
courageous  men  were  affected  by  the  Oriental 
doctrine  of  the  suppression  of  all  human  duties, 
relationships  and    necessities,  in   order  to  attain  a 


POVERTY  AND  HOLINESS  11 

spiritual  exaltation  which  placed  them  eii  rapport 
with  the  other  world,  seems  to  be  certain,  and  these 
extremists  were,  of  course,  dangerous  to  the  daily 
life  and  conduct  consecrated  by  Christ.  But  others, 
as  Peter  Waldo,  Arnold  of  Brescia  and  his  stern 
persecutor,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  attacked  the 
shameful  lives  of  the  clergy,  their  greed,  luxury  and 
immorality,  and  demanded  a  return  to  the  poverty 
enjoined  by  Christ  on  all  whom  He  consecrated  to 
preach  the  gospel.  How  furiously  the  Church 
assailed  its  critics  is  matter  of  history.  Where  they 
were  poor  and  unprotected  they  were  slain  by  the 
sword,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Albigenses,  rooted  out 
by  command  of  Innocent  HI.,  who  dared  to  call 
himself  the  Vicar  of  Christ ! 

It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  monastic 
orders  grew  wealthy,  luxurious,  haughty.  We  may 
be  thankful  that  some  of  them  grew  learned  also, 
that  before  the  invention  of  printing  they  collected 
manuscripts  and  copied  them,  and  that  they  pre- 
served the  Bible  by  means  of  constant  transcrip- 
tions. To  learned  monks  we  owe  most  of  the 
history  of  Europe,  the  preservation  of  the  classics, 
of  books  of  doctrine,  patristic  and  theological  ;  the 
beginnings  of  education,  the  early  arts,  the  rudi- 
mentary sciences  or  pseudo-sciences.  And,  espe- 
cially in  England,  the  convents  were  the  only 
centres  of  charity  to  the  poor,  of  healing  and 
nursing,  of  consolation  and  of  escape  from  the 
turbulence  and  cruelties  of  pre-reformation  times. 

But  their  spiritual  influence  was  at  a  minimum, 


12  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

and  they  encouraged  rather  than  over-bridged  the 
gulf  between  the  secular  and  the  monastic  life, 
making  a  bequest  to  their  order  the  price  for 
death-bed  repentance  and  absolution,  although  the 
life  of  the  testator  had  been  a  prolonged  defiance  of 
every  one  of  God's  commandments. 

What  worth  for  the  world  they  retained  was  due 
to  the  spirit  in  which  they  had  been  founded,  and 
to  the  rule  prescribed,  although  too  often  relaxed. 
What  spiritual  failure  they  suffered  was  due  to  the 
precepts,  example  and  influence  of  the  Roman 
Curia. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  ELEVENTH  AND  TWELFTH 
CENTURIES 

Early  System — Growth  of  Hierarchical  Body — Rome  the  Seat 
of  Ecclesiastical  Power — Change  in  the  Character  of 
Church  —  Its  Feudal  Possessions  —  Its  Decadence  in 
Ninth  Century — Its  Restoration  by  Henry  III. — Gregory 
VII.  —  Investitures  —  Struggle  between  Papacy  and 
Empire — Arnold  of  Brescia — The  Peace  of  Venice. 

THE  simple  congregational  system  of  apostolic 
times  passed  away  with  the  Apostles.  As 
Christianity  spread  and  new  congregations  were 
formed,  it  became  necessary  to  call  general  meet- 
ings of  their  representatives  at  some  convenient 
centre  for  each  district.  The  president  at  such  a 
meeting,  chosen  for  his  personal  worth,  became  by 
common  consent  the  spiritual  overseer  of  his  dis- 
trict, and  these  overseers  formed  the  first  episcopal 
body.  The  overseer  in  the  city  gradually  grew  in 
importance  as  his  area  of  supervision  became  more 
densely  populated,  more  complicated  intellectually, 
morally  and  politically,  than  that  of  his  colleague  in 
the  country.  The  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  hastened 
to  its  full  equipment. 

Why   the    Bishop   of  Rome    should    have    over- 
shadowed   the    bishops    of  other   cities  and   other 
(13) 


14  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

countries  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand.  Chris- 
tianity be<Tan  in  Judea,  and  it  might  have  been 
reasonably  expected  that  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem 
should  rise  to  be  head  of  the  Church  government, 
but  Judea  was  a  province  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  some  centuries  elapsed  during  which  the 
Christian  hierarchy  was  under  the  ban  of  the 
Empire  and  Palestine  under  its  heel.  That  mar- 
vellous centralisation  of  power  in  the  City  of  Rome 
not  only  long  outlasted  its  virtual  sway,  but  left  be- 
hind it  a  prestige,  a  legend,  to  wliich  the  minds  of 
men  succumbed  for  fifteen  centuries. 

When  the  Emperor  removed  to  Constantinople 
after  sanctioning  Christianity,  that  prestige  became 
the  heritage  of  the  Church,  which  began  to  wield 
it  in  a  manner  altogether  similar  to  the  methods  by 
which  the  Romans  had  consolidated  their  authority^ 
The  erewhile  humble  and  saintly  Bishops  of  Rome 
became  potentates,  and  for  the  most  part  the 
change  wrecked  their  humility  and  their  saintliness. 
The  hierarchical  confederacy  furthered  their  aims 
in  all  parts  of  the  world  to  which  Christianity  had 
penetrated.  Submission  to  the  Church,  faith  in  its 
dogmas,  tribute  to  its  treasury,  took  the  place  of  the 
old-world  attitude  to  the  Empire.  Its  dogmas 
ceased  to  be  the  commands  of  Christ,  or  became 
perverted  versions  of  His  commands ;  traditions 
supplemented  and  almost  replaced  the  Apostolic 
Scriptures ;  inventions  and  forgeries  welded  into 
tyranny  the  double  authority  assumed  by  the 
Bishops  of  Rome ;    men  were  taught  an  elaborate 


CHURCH  IN  ELEVENTH  CENTURY      15 

paganism  of  angels  and  fiends,  of  miracles  and 
judgment,  to  supply  the  gap  of  prescribed  deities, 
nymphs,  satyrs,  and  portents,  instead  of  being  led 
to  recognise  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  of 
being  strengthened  in  the  life  immortal  and  invis- 
ible proclaimed  by  St.   Paul. 

A  policy  of  expediency  in  times  of  almost  incon- 
ceivable difficulty  extended  and  materialised  the 
influence  of  the  Church.  It  attempted  to  unite  the 
legacy  of  Christ  with  the  heritage  of  the  Empire, 
and  it  succeeded  in  combining  the  domination  of 
the  latter  with  a  terrifying  assumption  of  super- 
natural authority,  wherein  there  was  little  of  Christ, 
but  a  great  deal  of  the  mysterious  influence 
exercised  upon  superstitious  and  ignorant  multi- 
tudes by  every  determined  priesthood. 

It  had  become,  after  some  centuries  of  increasing 
power,  the  aim  of  the  Roman  Church  no  longer  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  His 
Fatherhood,  His  adoption  of  men  willing  to  believe 
in  His  Son, — but  to  preach  the  Church's  acceptance 
of  all  who  acknowledged  her  authority  and  bowed 
to  her  dogmas.  Yet,  even  in  these  days,  men  and 
women  averted  the  calamitous  declension  by  indi- 
vidual return  to  the  precepts  and  example  of  Christ, 
and  the  proud  and  worldly  organisation  has  ever 
been  prompt  to  display  those  exceptional  lives  as 
the  flower  and  fruit  of  her  teaching. 

Lands  and  wealth  were  bequeathed  to  the  Church 
by  nobles,  princes  and  emperors,  till  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  was  suzerain  in  many  parts  of  Italy,  in  Sicily 


16  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

and  Corsica,  in  Gaul,  in  the  north  of  Africa  and  in 
Asia.  It  was  becoming  a  world-power,  made  its 
own  alliances — as  with  the  Frankish  Kingdom — 
defended  its  territories  with  the  sword ;  disputed 
its  own  throne,  two  or  three  pretenders  struggling 
at  once  for  what  was  called  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter ; 
drew  up  its  own  codes  of  jurisdiction,  based  upon 
audacious  forgeries,  and  shared  in  the  disorders  of 
the  terrible  years  which  brought  the  ninth  century 
to  a  close. 

During  the  succeeding  century  the  power  of  the 
Papacy  shrank  to  its  minimum,  and  could  scarcely 
claim  from  its  vassals  recognition  of  its  feudal 
supremacy,  losing  Sicily  and  Southern  Italy  to 
Saracens  and  Normans.  A  like  anarchy  prevailed 
in  the  Empire  of  the  West,  but  it  revived  with  Otho 
of  Saxony,  son  of  Henry  the  Fowler,  who  made 
himself  feared  as  King  of  Germany  and  Emperor 
of  the  Romans,  head  of  both  State  and  Church 
within  his  dominions.  This  great  Emperor  came 
to  Rome  to  put  his  supremacy  in  force,  and  found 
the  Church  suffering  from  a  Pope  so  profligate, 
reckless  and  irresponsible,  that  we  recognise  in  him 
the  authentic  heir  of  that  insanity  which  befel  many 
of  the  Roman  Emperors,  when  in  their  own  person 
they  assumed  the  position  and  received  the  homage 
due  both  to  the  Deity  and  to  the  sovereign.  On 
representations  made  to  him  by  the  Synod,  which 
he  convened  at  St.  Peter's,  Otho  deposed  Pope 
John  XII.  and  raised  Leo  VIII.  to  the  Papacy. 
But  the   Romans,   ever   capricious,   changed    their 


CHURCH  IN  ELEVENTH  CENTURY      17 

minds  and  revolted  against  tlie  Germans,  and  Otho 
was  obliged  to  use  force  for  their  submission.  In 
the  end  he  established  the  imperial  right  to  control 
papal  elections,  as  well  as  to  receive  the  homage  of 
the  Romans,  and  until  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century  his  successors  maintained  their  authority  so 
far  as  it  was  possible  over  treacherous  Pontiffs  and 
turbulent  citizens.  One  of  them  indeed,  the 
brilliant  Otho  III.,  aimed  at  making  Rome  his 
capital,  and  but  for  his  early  and  violent  death 
might  have  succeeded  in  realising  this  great  con- 
ception. 

The  Papacy  continued  to  be  a  scorn  and  a 
derision  in  the  hands  of  infamous  or  incompetent 
Popes,  three  of  whom  Henry  III.  deposed  early  in 
the  eleventh  century,  nominating  one  German 
bishop  after  another  to  the  pontifical  chair,  and 
superintending  the  reform  which  these  commenced 
in  the  lives  of  the  degenerate  clergy.  With  that 
reform,  however,  began  unconsciously  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  arrogance  inseparable  from  actual 
power,  which  led  to  the  restoration  of  the  temporal 
power,  to  the  vast  and  imperial  pretensions  of  a 
line  of  determined  Popes,  to  the  bloody  struggle 
with  the  very  Empire  which  had  re-estabHshed, 
protected,  and  in  some  respects  reformed  the 
Papacy,  a  struggle  lasting  two  centuries,  and 
although  almost  successful  for  the  latter,  still  the 
essential  cause  of  its  downfall. 

The  Church,  at  Henry  III.'s  death,  was  still 
bound  to  the  Empire,  not  only  by  ties  of  gratitude. 


18  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

but  by  an  understood  subjection  to  its  head.  But 
as  the  latter  depended  on  the  co-operation  of  Rome 
for  the  coronation  which  legalised  his  title  of 
Emperor,  the  Popes,  once  more  restored  to  the 
respect  of  Christianity,  realised  how  powerful  was 
this  prerogative  for  the  furtherance  of  their  ambi- 
tions. Nicholas  II.  summoned  a  Council  in  1059, 
which  excluded  the  Emperor  as  elector  to  the 
Papacy,  as  well  as  both  nobles  and  burgesses  of 
Rome,  and  which  revolutionised  the  existing  con- 
stitution. His  successor,  Gregory  VII.,  who  had 
counselled  this  step,  was  thus  furnished  with  the 
preliminary  means  towards  his  audacious  aim  of 
freeing  the  Papacy  from  secular  intervention.  No 
longer  were  Empire  and  Church  to  work  together 
as  body  and  soul  for  the  civilisation  and  Christiani- 
sation  of  the  world,  but  the  Church  was  to  sway 
the  destinies  of  its  kingdoms,  unhindered  by  the 
voice  of  their  sovereigns,  or  the  vote  of  their 
Councils. 

Fortunately,  strong  sovereigns  were  on  some  of 
the  thrones  thus  menaced,  such  as  Norman  William, 
who  laughed  the  attempt  to  convert  England  into 
a  Papal  fief  to  scorn. 

The  Romans,  too,  were  a  perpetual  thorn  in  the 
Pontiffs  side,  and  nothing  testifies  so  irrefragably  to 
the  spiritual  futility  of  the  Roman  Church  as  its 
powerlessness  to  deal  with  its  immediate  difficulties. 
Whatever  impression  of  holiness  it  might  maintain 
beyond  Rome's  ring  of  city-studded  mountains, 
within  that  circle  familiarity  with  its  methods,  its 


CHURCH  IN  ELEVENTH  CENTURY      19 

hypocrisies,  its  cruelties  and  its  greed  had  bred 
immortal  contempt.  Gregory  VII.  refounded  the 
Church,  not  upon  the  Rock  Christ  Jesus,  but  upon 
the  absolute  power  of  the  Papacy.  He  asserted 
the  supremacy  of  the  Popes,  not  alone  in  ecclesi- 
astical, but  in  political  matters,  and  as  to  spiritual 
matters,  he  and  his  successors  were  greater  adepts 
at  wielding  a  spiritual  terrorism  than  at  making 
Christian  precept  influential.  The  man's  love  of 
power  was  unbounded ;  it  had  the  harsh  Teutonic 
quality,  which  eventuates  in  tyranny,  and  it  was 
this  overweening  and  unspiritual  humanity  which 
he  forced  into  the  mediaeval  conception  of  the 
Papacy. 

Great  as  was  his  apparent  success,  it  was  flawed 
and  rent  with  the  strain  to  which  he  subjected 
the  system,  and  from  his  time  the  Western  world 
rocked  and  reeled  above  the  tremors  of  doubt  and 
repulsion,  which  heralded  the  inevitable  outbreak 
in  the  countries  of  slow-broadening  freedom.  That 
it  was  an  outbreak  of  volcanic  force  and  not  a 
reformation  from  within  was  due  to  Gregory  VII. 
and  his  successors,  whose  assumption  of  infallibility 
for  the  Church  destroyed  its  need  and  its  faculty 
for  critical  introspection,  and  armed  it  with  a  ready 
sword,  with  tortures  and  with  death  against  the 
very  men  who  might  have  recalled  it  to  its  first  and 
forgotten  purity.  The  Popes,  who  clung  to  their 
lands  and  their  wealth,  who  equipped  armies  and 
cursed  nations,  made  the  outbreak  a  terrible  necessity. 

Gregory   VII.    dared    to   use    the    anathema  for 


20  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

purely  worldly  purposes,  and  conquered  by  virtue 
of  the  blight  which  interdict  and  excommunication 
effected.  And  if  the  papal  weapons  could  terrorise 
the  very  Emperor,  how  natural  it  was  that  the 
feudal  vassals  of  the  Empire,  who  resented  con- 
trol, should  seek  alliance  with  the  power  which 
wielded  them.  The  very  existence  of  the  Popes, 
secularised  into  aggressive  politicians,  while  retain- 
ing in  the  imaginations  of  men  this  blasting  poten- 
tiality, was  a  menace  to  the  States  of  Europe.  It 
was  more  than  a  menace  to  Henry  IV.,  against 
whom  Gregory  employed  every  artifice  of  priest- 
craft, every  treason  that  man  can  practise  against 
man,  every  sacrilegious  use  of  the  terrors  whose 
exercise  he  dared  to  arrogate. 

But  he  planted  two  strong  seeds  and  watered 
them  with  blood — detestation  of  the  Papacy  in 
Germany  and  the  war  between  Papacy  and  Empire. 

The  struggle  began  on  the  question  of  investiture. 
It  was  the  prerogative  of  Henry  IV. 's  predecessors 
to  appoint  the  prelates  and  dignitaries  who  ruled 
the  German  Church,  and  if  he  abused  this  pre- 
rogative and  sold  these  high  places  to  unworthy 
clerics,  he  did  what  Popes  had  done  before  him 
and  what  his  training  under  corrupt  Pope-chosen 
ecclesiastics  had  taught  him  to  do.  Recovering 
from  the  penance  imposed  upon  him,  he  appointed 
an  anti-pope  and  began  to  lay  siege  to  the  papal 
fiefs,  so  that  Gregory  was  forced  to  call  the  terrible 
sword  of  Robert  Guiscard  to  his  aid,  and  himself 
died  in  exile. 


CHURCH  IN  TWELFTH  CENTURY       21 

His  successors  carried  on  the  strife  and  perpetu- 
ated the  use  of  intrigue  and  treachery  so  associated 
with  the  practice  of  the  Roman  Curia,  while  the 
Emperors  learned  to  emulate  their  craft  and  could 
devastate  Italy  with  larger  armies. 

Sixteen  Popes,  with  but  few  exceptions,  were  in 
arms  against  the  Emperors  during  the  course  of  the 
twelfth  century,  and  five  anti-popes  testify  to  the 
occasional  success  of  the  latter.  They  were  fight- 
ing for  their  very  existence  as  Emperors,  the  Popes 
for  their  very  existence  as  territorial  Lords.  It 
was  the  tremendous  question  between  temporal 
suzerainty  and  a  spiritual  suzerainty  bent  as  well  on 
temporal  supremacy. 

Many  of  the  papal  temporalities  were  based  upon 
a  forgery  known  as  the  "  Donation  of  Constantine," 
a  document  literally  conceived  in  iniquity  and 
expressed  in  blasphemy,  while  its  claim  to  be  the 
tribunal  at  which  kings  and  emperors  must  be 
judged  was  based  on  the  "  Decretal  Epistles,"  a 
clever  collection  of  forgeries,  here  and  there  pro- 
vided with  a  genuine  pastoral  letter.  Without 
these  two  foundation  stones,  the  temporal  power, 
which  has  betrayed  the  spiritual,  could  not  have 
been  erected.  Neither  one  nor  the  other  suggests 
the  Rock  Christ  Jesus. 

The  very  schemes,  which  the  Popes  evolved  for 
the  occupation  of  Christendom  and  the  restoration 
of  their  Asiatic  fiefs,  were  educating  men  into 
larger  views,  into  more  logical  conception  of  the 
Divine    intention    for    both    Church    and    nations. 


22  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

This  spectacle  of  an  armed  and  death-dealing 
Papacy  intent  on  territorial  possession,  concerned 
not  at  all  for  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  under- 
mined the  imposing  structure.  Every  secession 
marked  an  acute  perception  of  the  monstrous 
anomaly  displayed  by  the  Papacy.  Even  its  most 
zealous  supporters  brought  home  charges  of  luxury, 
ostentation,  vice  and  idleness  against  its  clergy, 
and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  who  persecuted  its  op- 
ponents and  conciliated  its  schisms,  spoke  bravely 
against  its  pride,  avarice,  secularisation  and  corrup- 
tion. The  strife  was  at  its  culminating  point  during 
the  reign  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  when  Hadrian 
IV.  and  Alexander  III.  were  Popes,  that  is,  from  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century  till  about  1180, 

Eugenius  III.  succeeded  Lucius  II.  in  1145,  and 
inherited  his  strife  with  the  Romans,  who,  under 
Arnold  of  Brescia,  had  almost  succeeded  in  secur- 
ing their  civic  independence  of  both  Pope  and 
Emperor.  Lucius,  indeed,  died  a  soldier's  death 
at  the  head  of  his  mercenaries,  storming  the 
Capitol,  where  the  Romans  had  established  their 
government.  Arnold  was  perhaps  more  formidable 
to  the  Papacy  than  both  the  dynasties  of  Saxon 
and  Hohenstaufen  emperors.  A  Brescian  by  birth, 
a  student  at  Paris,  where  he  acquired  the  art  of 
rhetoric,  the  practice  of  logical  reasoning,  dialec- 
tics and  liberal  theology  under  Abelard,  blameless 
in  life  and  attractive  in  person,  with  flawless  courage 
both  physical  and  moral,  he  discerned  the  root  of 
every  monstrous  evil  which  had  sprung  from  papal 


CHURCH  IN  TWELFTH  CENTURY       23 

misguidance.  Brescia  was  already  accustomed  to 
plain  speaking  and  to  discontent  with  the  luxury 
and  arrogance  of  its  own  prelate  and  priests,  whom, 
as  Gregorovius  has  said,  "  words  failed  to  describe, 
but  whom  neither  councils  nor  monastic  orders 
could  cure". 

Arnold  plunged  into  the  fray,  declaring  with 
acute  diagnosis  that  neither  property  nor  power 
could  righteously  belong  to  the  clergy,  but  that 
holy  living  would  entitle  them  to  receive  tithes 
from  those  whom  they  spiritually  benefited.  In 
support  of  this  doctrine  was  the  adolescent  mind 
of  Northern  Italy  and  of  Germany,  for  the  crusa- 
ders had  effected  much  in  liberating,  informing 
and  maturing  the  intelligence  of  the  West. 

His  war-cry  was,  '^  Let  the  temporal  power  of 
the  prelates  come  to  an  end  " — and  it  was  echoed 
wherever  light  had  dawned  on  the  minds  of  men, 
and  wherever  was  felt  the  tyrannous  pressure  of 
the  sovereign  curia.  Above  all,  at  its  very  gates, 
in  Rome  itself,  the  citizens  and  nobles  maintained 
a  constant  contention  with  the  Dominium  Temporale^ 
and  when  Arnold  appeared  amongst  them  they  wel- 
comed his  cause  as  one  with  which  they  had  been 
long  familiar,  and  secured  his  assistance  in  estab- 
lishing the  civic  independence  on  which  they  were 
bent.  For  it  was  the  birth-time  of  the  burgher 
rights,  and  industries,  arts  and  crafls  were  sending 
into  the  broad  field  of  the  world  powers  that  made 
for  liberty,  scarcely  aware  of  whose  banner  they 
had   hoisted. 


24  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

One  Pope  had  already  in  half-hearted  fashion 
acknowledged  the  anomaly  of  the  feudal  position 
of  prelates  and  priests,  but  his  attempt  to  reform 
it  did  not  seek  to  purge  the  Papacy  from  the  evil 
which  he  condemned,  and  it  broke  down.  But 
that  the  canker  had,  in  some  of  its  symptoms, 
been  admitted  by  Paschal  II.,  might  have  been 
pushed  home  had  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  and  Arnold 
been  able  to  combine  on  a  common  ground  of 
action.  Unfortunately,  Arnold  was  too  much  ali- 
enated by  the  hopeless  corruption  of  the  Church 
to  admit  that  even  ecclesiastically  its  hierarchy 
was  fitted  for  government,  and  Bernard  was  as 
much  convinced  of  its  spiritual  potentiality  as  he 
was  concerned  about  its  moral  degeneracy.  He 
was  Arnold's  unrelenting  foe,  and  had  pursued  him 
with  stern  denunciation  wherever  he  had  taken 
refuge. 

In  the  new  outbreak  of  Rome  against  the  Pope, 
Arnold  was  protected  by  the  citizens,  and  when 
Lucius  died,  Eugenius  III.  practised  a  crafty  states- 
manship, which,  while  flattering  the  Romans,  slowly 
undermined  their  resistance  and  depreciated  their 
enthusiasm  for  its  leader.  And  Hadrian  inherited 
what  his  predecessor's  craft  effected,  when  his  op- 
portunity aiTived. 

A  cardinal  was  murdered  in  a  Roman  brawl,  and 
Pope  Hadrian  laid  the  city  under  interdict  until 
Arnold  was  banished.  Alas  !  he  too  was  the  victim 
of  the  men  whom  he  tried  to  help,  and  they  be- 
trayed  him    because    Eugenius    had   bought    their 


CHURCH   IN  TWELFTH  CENTURY       25 

good-will  with  alms  and  Hadrian  had  paralysed 
their  cowardly  souls.  But,  while  he  lived,  that 
one  pure  spirit,  whom  money  could  not  purchase 
nor  papal  thunders  terrify,  Popes  sat  uneasy  on 
their  throne,  and  Hadrian  made  him  the  price  of 
Barbarossa's  coronation.  Rather  the  man  of  fire 
and  sword,  who  could  be  fought  by  hirelings,  kept 
at  bay  by  diplomacy,  managed  by  invocation  of  all 
the  infernal  terrors,  than  the  voice  speaking  in 
the  wilderness,  which  called  men  to  repentance, 
and  whose  owner  practised  the  simplicity,  the  au- 
sterity, the  pitifulness  of  Christ. 

Into  a  new  era  Empire  and  Papacy  carried  the  old 
war.  But  there  was  scarcely  any  rag  of  spiritual 
pretension  left  with  which  to  veil  its  violence. 
The  casus  belli  was  the  fair  domain  in  Northern  Italy 
claimed  alike  by  Pope  and  Emperor.  Other  mo- 
tives, indeed,  mingled  with  this,  and  while  Frederick 
appealed  to  authority  ancient  as  the  Roman  power 
and  deriving  from  the  Ruler  of  Heaven  and  earth, 
Hadrian  curbed  his  vaulting  ambition  with  the 
reminder  that,  unconsecratoJ  by  the  Pope,  his 
imperial  state  was  a  figment  of  the  imagination. 
The  only  English  Pope  held  his  dominion  very 
briefly,  but  his  successor,  Alexander  III.,  although 
harassed  by  Frederick's  anti-popes  and  threatened 
by  his  determined  effort  to  recover  the  control 
wielded  by  Otho  and  Henry  III.,  maintained  an 
unyielding  resistance,  and  secured  both  the  papal 
chair  and  the  ultimate  victory  over  Frederick. 
This   great   event  was  signalised   by  the   Peace  of 


26  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Venice,  on  1st  August,  1177.  It  was  precipitated 
by  the  defeat  suffered  by  Frederick  from  the 
Lombard  cities,  whose  League  the  Pope  approved 
and  blessed,  helping  civic  liberty  when  it  was  use- 
ful against  his  foe.  There  were  more  signatories 
to  the  Peace  than  the  two  principals,  for  the  great 
republics  sent  their  envoys,  and  both  Sicily  and 
Constantinople  furnished  their  rulers  to  the  con- 
gress assembled  by  Sebastian  Ziani,  the  Doge  of 
Venice. 

And  Alexander  III.  emerged  triumphant  from 
his  perplexities,  the  independent  ruler  of  Rome, 
the  feudal  lord  of  his  Patrwioniiim,  pardoning  with 
dramatic  impressiveness  his  mighty  foe,  whom  awe 
of  the  invisible  had  shaken  into  penitence. 

Then  stubborn  Rome  yielded  to  the  infection 
and  begged  the  Pope's  return  to  the  Lateran, 
where  he  took  prompt  measures  to  ensure  the 
papal  elections  once  for  all  against  secular  inter- 
vention and  against  the  scandal  of  anti-popes  from 
which  he  had  just  been  delivered.  He  called  an 
CEcumenical  Council  and  issued  its  decree,  that 
two-thirds  of  the  votes  of  the  College  of  Cardinals 
should  henceforth  elect  a  Pope,  and  that  neither 
Emperor,  nor  prince  nor  burgess  might  vote  at  all. 

Two  years  more  of  trouble  and  exile  he  endured, 
and  then  in  1181  Alexander  III.  died  at  Civita 
Castellana,  bequeathing  that  strange  combination 
of  power  abroad  and  impotence  at  home  to  his 
successor. 


CHAPTER  III 

CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER 

Three  Popes  in  Exile — Clement  IIL  and  the  Romans — The 
Great  Crusade — Henry  VL — Celestine  HL — Tusculum — 
Innocent  HL — The  Emperor  Otho — Francis  at  the 
Lateran — Assisi  in  the  Remote  Past — Under  Rome — Its 
First  Christian  Martyrs — Goths,  Huns,  Lombards  and 
Germans  in  Assisi — Its  Troubled  Civic  History. 

TWO  Popes  in  exile  wore  the  tiara,  but  could 
not  sit  in  St.  Peter's  Chair,  kept  at  bay  by  the 
Romans,  whom  they  cursed  in  vain.  It  was  into 
Christendom,  so  vexed  for  lack  of  Christ,  that 
Francis  was  born,  shortly  after  Pope  Alexander's 
death,  and  while  Lucius  III.  was  branding  his 
Romans  as  heretics  from  the  safe  distance  of 
Verona,  where,  on  his  death.  Urban  III.  kept  such 
state  as  was  possible  outside  the  Lateran  and  St. 
Peter's.  He  prosecuted  the  feud  with  Barbarossa's 
son,  who  would  not  slacken  hold  on  Matilda's 
lands,  and  refused  to  crown  him.  So,  in  right  of 
his  wife,  Henry  assumed  the  suzerainty  as  well  as 
the  possession  of  Sicily,  got  himself  crowned  by 
the  Patriarch  of  Aquileia,  and  commenced  to  harass 
the  Papal  States.  Urban  died  after  two  years  of 
disaster,  and  his  successor,  Gregory  VIII.,  anxious 
(27) 


28  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

for  peace  and  for  a  new  crusade  to  recover  Jeru- 
salem, had  scarcely  time  to  make  his  wishes  known 
when  he  too  died,  and  a  man  of  Roman  birth  and 
sterner  character  was  raised  to  the  Papacy  as 
Clement  III.  He  entered  into  negotiations  with 
Rome  as  with  a  separate  Power,  and  for  certain 
payments  and  permission  to  destroy  the  City  of 
Tusculum,  so  often  the  refuge  of  Popes  from  the 
Romans,  he  was  allowed  to  return  to  the  Lateran, 
but  with  his  secular  power  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
However,  that  was  a  matter  which  time  might 
remedy,  and  for  the  present  there  was  Jerusalem  to 
be  recaptured  and  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  to  be 
managed  to  that  end,  an  easier  matter  than  keep- 
ing his  citizens  in  order.  So  Barbarossa,  Philip  of 
France  and  Richard  of  England,  with  a  host  of 
minor  princes  and  dukes,  made  alliance,  and  sailed 
for  the  East,  the  first  to  his  death  by  misadventure, 
the  last  to  failure  and  captivity  on  his  homeward 
way.  No  one  of  them  visited  the  Pope  on  the  out- 
ward journey,  although  they  were  as  close  to  Rome 
as  Ostia  and  Messina.  On  Barbarossa's  death, 
Clement  was  prepared  to  crown  Henry  emperor, 
but  he  died  before  the  Easter  of  1191,  which  he 
had  fixed  for  the  ceremony.  A  fortnight  later,  his 
successor,  Celestine  III.,  was  ordained,  and  crowned 
Henry  VI.  the  following  day  ;  but  the  Romans  had 
exacted  as  price  of  the  hallowing  the  complete 
destruction  of  Tusculum  by  the  German  soldiers, 
and  together  they  made  of  the  ancient  and  powerful 
city  a  melancholy  desert,  a  few  heaps  of  scattered 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       29 

and  unrecognisable  stones.  Such  requital  its  lords 
received  for  long  years  of  loyalty  to  the  Curia. 
This  atrocity  was  completed  two  days  after  the 
Emperor's  coronation,  three  after  the  Pope's  ordina- 
tion. Celestine  let  the  Romans  do  much  as  they 
liked,  so  long  as  he  might  hold  the  Lateran  and 
the  Leonine  City,  but  their  incessant  feuds  and  the 
habitual  indolence  of  a  pleasure-loving  populace, 
ready  for  revolts  and  ready  for  the  pageantries  of 
peace,  without  determination  and  without  union, 
made  it  impossible  for  Rome  to  attain  the  dignity 
founded  on  industry,  energy  and  civic  responsi- 
bility which  obtained  in  Lombardy  and  Tuscany. 
Its  Senate  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  nobles, 
and  a  succession  of  revolutions  fills  the  Roman 
chronicles  of  this  time. 

Henry  VI.  had  suppressed  Sicily  and  secured 
Spoleto,  Romagna  and  the  Marches  before  his 
sudden  and  early  death  in  September,  1197,  and 
Celestine  had  no  time  to  seize  the  opportunity 
which  this  event  afforded,  for  a  few  months  later 
he,  too,  ended  his  vexed  and  hampered  life  in  the 
beginning  of  11 98. 

The  eighteen  years  of  his  successor's  sway  form 
the  most  remarkable  period  of  papal  pretension, 
audacity  and  political  influence.  Innocent  III.,  a 
man  who,  as  far  as  mere  vice  was  concerned,  was 
blameless,  but  in  whom  it  is  impossible  to  deny 
the  vigorous  existence  of  every  spiritual  sin  which 
can  lead  the  soul  astray  from  the  Divine  intention, 
made  himself  literally    arbiter    of  the    kings    and 


so  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

governments  of  Western  Europe.  His  first  care  was 
to  purchase  terms  with  the  Romans  ;  his  next,  to  re- 
gain the  papal  suzerainty  over  Campania,  the  Mari- 
tima,  the  Sabina  and  Tuscany.  The  disturbed  state 
of  the  Empire  gave  him  his  next  opportunity,  and 
he  played  the  impressive  part  of  Hberator  from  the 
hated  German  yoke,  attracting  the  cities  to  his 
banner  and  forcing  the  German  princes  to  surrender 
and  even  to  leave  Italy.  Scarcely  six  months  a 
Pope,  he  was  able  to  make  a  royal  progress  and 
to  receive  the  homage  of  many  a  city  long  accus- 
tomed to  give  grudging  service  to  imperial  governors. 
For  the  first  time  Perugia,  on  the  Umbrian  hills, 
bent  to  a  sovereign  Pontiff,  and  received  from  his 
hands  the  communal  franchise  already  granted  by 
Henry  VI.  Assisi  he  claimed  and  won  from  Count 
Conrad,  its  people  gladly  consenting,  and  tearing 
down  their  castle  walls  that  they  might  never  again 
harbour  a  foreign  master.  Francis  was  sixteen  years 
old  then,  a  fascinating  lad,  gay  in  his  father's 
cloths  and  silks  from  the  markets  of  Southern 
France,  ruffling  it  with  the  younger  nobles  of  Assisi, 
taking  part,  we  may  be  sure,  in  all  the  gala  doings 
of  that  day  of  liberation,  doubtless  receiving  into 
his  sub-consciousness  that  object-lesson  of  Innocent, 
Vicar  of  Christ,  with  hand  to  sword,  chasing  away 
his  foes  with  a  mere  arm  of  flesh,  anomalously  rein- 
forced, somehow,  by  an  incalculable  mysterious 
power  to  send  their  souls  to  hell.  Florence,  Lucca 
and  Siena  were  matured  in  civic  liberty,  and  would 
not  grant  him  political  ascendency,  so  that,  in  spite 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       31 

of  his  masterly  treatment  of  the  role  elected,  he 
played  it  to  their  suspicious  burghers  with  too  much 
intention  to  secure  their  confidence.  In  Tuscany, 
therefore,  he  was  a  name  rather  than  a  power,  and 
its  cities  kept  that  portion  of  Matilda's  heritage 
which  they  had  wrested  from  Barbarossa.  From  the 
Marches  to  Latium  he  placed  his  provinces  in  the 
care  of  his  own  officers,  protected  by  powerful  for- 
tresses securely  garrisoned.  The  strife  for  the 
imperial  throne  between  the  houses  of  Hohenstaufen 
and  Saxony  gave  him  a  further  chance,  promptly 
converted  into  an  unscrupulous  but  brilliant  diplo- 
matic advantage  ;  and  while  either  side  sought  his 
suffi'age,  he  played  one  against  the  other,  noting  and 
rising  upon  the  weaknesses  of  both.  All  the  time 
he  held  in  the  background  the  little  Frederick, 
Barbarossa's  grandson,  neglected  by  the  rivals  and 
apparently  of  no  account  to  Innocent,  but  at  the 
right  moment  to  be  produced  for  the  discomfiture 
of  the  unmanageable  pretenders  and  for  the  further- 
ance of  his  own  purposes.  For  he  had  carefully 
seen  to  the  boy's  corruption,  and  had  discounted  his 
inheritance  of  mind  and  craft  from  the  Hohenstau- 
fen line.  That  Frederick  lived  to  be  a  thorn  in 
the  side  of  the  Papacy  was  not  merely  one  of  time's 
revenges,  but  a  proof  that  even  the  most  daring, 
far-seeing  and  provident  of  intriguers  cannot  always 
cope  with  the  future  he  has  himself  contrived. 

It  was  ever  as  the  friend  of  freedom  that  Inno- 
cent posed,  taking  advantage  of  the  discord  between 
thrones  and  nations  at  the  time,  as  he  had  taken 


32  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

advantage  of  the  strife  between  the  Italian  cities 
and  the  Empire.  How  great  a  freedom  he  would 
have  granted  had  all  power  been  his  may  be  com- 
puted from  his  menaces,  his  persecutions,  his  inter- 
ventions, his  interdicts  and  his  excommunications. 
He  ripened  the  Papacy  for  the  Inquisition,  for  the 
systems  of  espionage  and  betrayal  which  have 
made  it  odious  and  which  have  been  the  startling 
and  conclusive  evidence  of  its  spiritual  decay. 

But  the  Romans  gave  him  scant  domestic  rest, 
although  he  tried  to  buy  it  at  the  cost  of  Viterbo, 
helping  them  with  troops  and  money  to  subdue 
that  unhappy  city  with  which  they  were  at  war. 
He  had  his  own  reasons  for  this  alliance.  Italy 
swarmed  with  heretics  who  exalted  renunciation 
and  poverty,  and  taught  a  recalcitrant  attitude 
towards  the  wealthy  land-owning  hierarchy.  Not 
alone  were  the  Waldensians  giving  trouble,  but 
Patarins  and  Cathari  were  sedulously  spreading 
their  antagonism  to  doctrines  essential  to  the 
Church's  supremacy.  They  revived  the  Oriental 
creeds  of  poverty  and  mysticism  combined,  of  the 
conflict  of  principles  good  and  evil,  of  the  spiritual 
in  opposition  to  the  carnal ;  they  encouraged  re- 
nunciation, even  of  life  itself  in  certain  cases,  of 
marriage,  industry  and  commerce.  Milan  and 
Viterbo  were  their  headquarters  in  Italy,  and 
thence  they  sent  their  missionaries,  winning  to 
their  numbers  some  of  the  finest  minds  of  the 
Peninsula,  and  some  of  its  nobles  estranged  by  the 
materialism  of  the  court  and  clergy  of  Rome.      In- 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       33 

nocent    himself    dictated    the     peace    which    made 
Viterbo  vassal  to  the  Roman  Commune. 

He  paid  himself  for  this  singular  alliance  by 
seizing  the  lands  of  Count  Odo  of  Poll,  who  had 
offered  them  to  the  Romans  for  sale,  and  by  con- 
ferring them  on  his  brother.  This  rapacious  act 
roused  the  ready  suspicion  of  the  citizens,  amongst 
whom  the  old  hatred  broke  out  in  tumult  and 
fighting.  Innocent  had  to  fly  to  Palestrina,  where, 
lord  of  the  civilised  world,  he  was  tossed  to  and 
fro  like  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  conflicting  parties 
at  home,  shifting  from  one  side  to  the  other,  nobles, 
senators,  people,  alive  only  to  their  own  interest, 
while  the  Pope  had  to  bide  his  opportunity.  Five 
years  were  occupied  in  this  domestic  quarrel,  and 
Rome  was  in  a  state  so  deplorable  that  at  last 
the  people  cried  aloud  for  peace,  and  Innocent, 
knowing  acutely  the  civic  temperament,  found  the 
moment  opportune  for  copious  bribery,  and  although 
the  resolute  citizen  Capocci  protested  against  sur- 
render, papal  tactics  and  the  papal  soldiery  made 
brief  work  of  the  enfeebled  resistance.  Innocent 
triumphed  and  returned,  his  umpires  yielding  to 
him  the  right  of  electing  the  Roman  Senate.  The 
city  was  worn  out,  and  until  he  died  this  constitu- 
tion was  maintained.  Papal  greed  had  roused  the 
strife  and  papal  greed  revived  with  its  close,  but 
this  time  Innocent  seized  the  territories  of  the 
child  king  of  Sicily,  who  could  not  defend  them, 
nor  even  dispute  his  usurpation.  He  gave  his 
brother  Richard  the  title  of  Count  of  Sora,  and 
3 


34.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

bestowed  upon  him  not  only  the  lands  of  the 
Counts  of  Poli,  but  Sora,  Arpino,  Arce  and  Isola, 
to  be  held  as  fiefs  of  the  Church.  It  was  after  this 
act  of  dishonourable  spoliation  that  he  crowned 
Otho  of  Saxony  emperor,  who  forthwith  fell  to 
making  treaties  against  him,  intent  upon  recon- 
quering the  imperial  fiefs.  But  Innocent  promptly 
excommunicated  him,  a  fact  which  was  of  waning 
significance  in  Italy  and  of  none  at  all  in  Rome, 
but  which  retained  its  baleful  power  in  Germany, 
and  Otho  returned  thither  after  two  years  of  further 
conflict  during  which  the  Umbrian  cities  were  faith- 
ful to  Innocent. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1210,  three  months 
before  he  launched  this  excommunication,  while  he 
was  receiving  news  of  Otho's  successes  in  Southern 
Italy,  where  even  Naples  suiTendered  to  the  Em- 
peror, and  while  his  haughty  and  rapacious  spirit 
was  infuriated  at  the  losses  inflicted  upon  the 
Papacy  by  its  minion,  whose  discomfiture  he  medi- 
tated by  that  thunderbolt — that  Francis  was  brought 
face  to  face  with  Innocent. 

It  was  one  of  the  most  impressive  interviews 
which  history  records,  and  reminds  us  of  our  Lord 
before  King  Herod.  But  Herod  was  a  trifler  com- 
pared to  the  able  Pontiff  and  our  Lord  was  no 
suppliant  at  his  paltry  court.  We  can  picture  that 
crowned  nonentity  growing  restless  and  ill  at  ease 
in  presence  of  so  majestic  a  silence. 

Nor  was  the  stupendous  contrast  between  Inno- 
cent and  Francis  conceivable  in  their  time.     It  is 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       35 

only  now,  almost  seven  centuries  since  it  happened, 
that  we  see  it  in  the  full  depth  of  its  shadow,  the 
full  radiance  of  its  light.  On  the  papal  throne,  the 
world  incarnate  ;  at  its  foot,  the  one  man  who  be- 
lieved that  Christ's  Rule  of  living  was  the  only  Rule 
possible  for  the  health  of  humanity.  For  there  was 
no  Rule  practically  held  by  the  Curia  to  be  so  foolish, 
so  undesirable  as  Christ's  Rule,  and  to  the  illumined 
soul  of  Francis  there  was  none  so  wise  and  so  to  be 
desired. 

This  man  came  from  Assisi,  which  had  done 
homage  to  Pope  Innocent  twelve  years  earlier,  had 
flung  off  the  imperial  suzerainty  and  discarded  its 
Count-Governor.  No  older  city  sits  upon  the 
Umbrian  hills.  That  it  was  important  in  the  time 
of  Augustus,  and  earlier,  is  proved  by  its  beautiful 
portico  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Minerva  now  lead- 
ing to  a  Christian  church  ;  by  its  extensive  forum 
buried  under  the  modern  piazza  ;  by  its  amphitheatre 
and  stadium,  whose  grass-grown  seats  still  circle  round 
what  forms  a  kind  of  village  green  in  the  Piazza 
Nuova,  houses  interrupting  their  tiers  ;  by  Roman 
sculptures,  reliefs  and  inscriptions,  collected  in  its 
Pinacoteca,  its  public  gardens,  its  municipal  palace. 

Some  of  these  date  from  about  three  centuries  B.C., 
when  Assisi  came  under  the  power  of  Rome  with 
the  other  cities  of  Umbria.  But  she  had  a  history 
of  her  own  before  her  subjection  to  the  invincible 
republic. 

If  we  may  credit  Pliny  and  Dionysius,  it  was  in 
ages    hardly   calculable    and  prior  to  the  siege   of 


36  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Troy  that  the  Ombri  had  been  chased  from  Sicily 
by  the  Siculi,  and  had  swarmed  up  the  Italian 
peninsula  and  over  the  plains  that  lie  west  of  the 
Adriatic.  Thence  the  Etruscans  drove  them  to  seek 
safety  within  the  Apennines,  and  they  settled  where 
that  great  plain,  to  which  they  gave  their  name, 
forms  a  table-land  about  1,100  feet  above  the  sea 
level,  uplifted  by  mountain  walls  which  enclose  it 
on  every  side.  Here  they  built  towns  upon  the 
lower  slopes,  simple  towns  of  little  huts  compacted 
of  wood  and  clay  or  mud.  They  seem  to  have 
been  an  agricultural  and  pastoral  people  when  they 
fled  from  their  plains,  but  the  mountain  air  hardened 
them  into  warriors  and  the  exigencies  of  their  lot 
completed  the  transformation.  It  was  a  time  of 
restless  movement,  and  the  Etruscans  followed  them 
into  Umbria  and  possessed  themselves  of  one  of 
these  simple  towns,  building  Perugia  on  its  site 
and  overlooking  the  wide  plain  with  masterful  and 
covetous  eyes.  Assisi  was  the  nearest  Umbrian 
city,  and  its  neighbours  made  periodical  attacks 
upon  its  inhabitants,  which,  at  first,  they  evaded 
by  withdrawing,  with  all  their  goods,  into  the  bowels 
of  Monte  Subasio,  upon  an  outlying  slope  of  which 
their  homes  were  built,  and  whose  mass  was  pierced 
by  caves  and  galleries.  But  in  time  they  braced 
themselves  up  to  conflict  with  the  Etruscans,  and 
became  strong  and  gallant  soldiers,  aggressive  as 
well  as  defensive,  and  the  rivalry  went  on  vigorously 
between  them. 

Then  came  the  Romans  at  the  end  of  the  fourth 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       37 

century  before  Christ,  and  Perugia  allied  herself  to 
the  cities  of  Umbria,  in  brave  but  unavailing  resist- 
ance. Fabius,  the  consular  general,  conquered 
Umbria,  and  Rome  established  her  garrisons  in 
every  city  and  commenced  her  educative  processes. 
It  is  more  than  probable  that  Assisi  had  already 
acquired  some  of  the  arts  of  civilisation  from  her 
long  though  hostile  intercourse  with  Perugia,  and 
that  prisoners  there  returned  to  their  homes  with 
knowledge  of  architecture  and  other  civic  advan- 
tages, which  they  proceeded  to  use.  There  exist 
massive  remains  of  what  might  very  well  have  been 
drains  in  the  Etruscan  manner,  evidently  older  than 
the  Roman  occupation,  and  at  Santa  Maria  delle 
Rose  great  Etruscan  blocks  still  support  an  arch 
built  and  decorated  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
But  it  is  certain  that  Assisi  was  rebuilt  in  the 
years  that  followed  its  subjection,  and  that  it  be- 
came in  time  a  singularly  beautiful  and  richly 
decorated  city.  Its  historian,  Antonio  Cristofani, 
helps  us  to  reconstruct  the  old  forum.  Its  chief 
ornament  must  have  been  the  Temple  of  Minerva, 
whom  a  myth  associates  with  the  founding  of  the 
town  by  Dardanus,  for  Roman  historians  loved  to 
support  these  pious  frauds.  Palladio  considered 
the  Corinthian  columns  which  remain  as  the  type 
of  architectural  perfection.  Another  temple,  of 
Doric  construction,  was  sacred  to  Apollo,  and 
there  are  remains  of  more,  of  which  three  were 
dedicated  to  Jove,  Hercules  and  Esculapius. 
Others  rose  in    different    parts    of  the    romanised 


38  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

city,  and  the  temple   of  Janus  has  left  its  name 
in  the  Porta  Mojano. 

Remains  of  walls,  columns,  capitals,  friezes  and 
foundations  attest  the  splendour  of  Assisi  in  im- 
perial times,  while  numerous  inscriptions  supply 
dates  and  other  details,  and  on  these  is  based 
Cristofeni's  admirable  account. 

It  was  in  Assisi,  about  the  middle  of  the  century 
before  the  Christian  era,  that  the  Latin  poet,  Pro- 
pertius,  was  born,  and,  although  educated  at  Rome 
and  spending  there  the  years  of  his  literary  and 
social  success,  he  returned  to  ''  Umbria  rich  in 
fertile  plains  "  so  soon  as  his  family  property  was 
restored  to  him,  and  spent  the  last  lustrum  of  his 
brief  life  in  simple  domestic  happiness  ''where 
misty  Mevania  stands  among  the  dews  of  the 
hill-girt  plain,  and  the  waters  of  the  Umbrian 
lake  grow  warm  the  summer  through  ". 

Morning  mists  still  crown  Bevagna,  and  Bastia's 
old  name  of  Isola  Romanesca  marks  the  site  of 
Umbria's  vanished  lake.  Many  inscriptions  attest 
the  residence  of  the  Propertius  family  in  Assisi, 
most  of  them  carefully  stored  under  the  portico 
of  Minerva. 

We  find  that  during  the  decline  of  Rome  its 
luxury  penetrated  into  Assisi,  where  the  nobles 
became  conspicuous  by  their  absence,  preferring 
the  pleasures  of  the  capital  to  their  duties  at 
home,  and  where  even  the  middle  classes  and 
the  labourers  fell  into  idle  and  eifeminate  ways. 
Agriculture   was   neglected ;    what    industry   there 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       .39 

was  took  the  shape  of  the  manufacture  of  luxuries, 
such  as  litters,  of  which  so  many  were  made  that 
the  workmen  were  united  in  a  guild  or  college. 
In  the  second  century  the  once  flourishing  town 
was  impoverished  by  the  combined  influences  of 
fashion  and  taxation,  and  it  became  necessary  to 
maintain  the  children  of  its  poorer  inhabitants  by 
public  charity. 

But  even  during  this  decadence  the  first  breath 
of  the  new  spirit  was  felt.  We  cannot  accept  the 
tradition  that  St.  Peter,  during  his  alleged  episco- 
pate, sent  a  special  band  of  evangelists  into  Um- 
bria,  but  it  is  certain  that  by  the  beginning  of 
the  third  century  evangelists  were  there,  and  that 
amongst  the  Assisans  a  small  Christian  community 
existed,  leading  the  precarious  lives  of  that  age  of 
persecution.  The  first  bishop  mentioned  in  local 
tradition  was  Rufino,  one  of  these  evangelists  who 
had  preached  the  gospel  in  Spoleto  before  he  came 
to  Assisi.  Faithful  to  the  Cross,  when  he  was  be- 
trayed he  confessed  Christ  in  the  presence  of  his 
judges,  and  was  condemned  to  the  flames,  which 
died  out,  so  that  his  half-scorched  and  suffering 
body  was  flung  into  the  river  Chiaggio  on  the 
other  side  of  the  plain.  His  followers  drew  it 
from  the  water,  and  gave  it  first  burial  near  at 
hand,  but  when  the  reign  of  terror  passed  it  was 
secretly  transported  up  to  the  city,  where  now 
stands  the  old  Duomo  of  San  Rufino. 

Nor    do    the    first    impressive    annals    end    here. 
The  second    bishop,  Vittorino,  suffered  martyrdom 


40  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

about  the  middle  of  the  same  century,  and  the 
first  years  of  the  next  witnessed  the  imprisonment, 
the  cruel  torture  and  the  death  by  bastinado  of 
Bishop  Savino.  Hut  with  him  is  connected  an 
incident  so  beautiful  that  we  must  linger  over  it 
more  fully  to  understand  the  legends  of  the  Assi- 
san  Church,  told  to  the  little  Francis  by  Madonna 
Pica,  which  sowed  in  his  tender  mind  seed  that 
blossomed  into  the  most  Christ-like  life  of  Chris- 
tendom, whose  fruit  is  still  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations. 

Betrayed  to  the  prefect  Venustiano,  Savino  and 
two  of  his  deacons  confessed  Christ  and  challenged 
the  governor  to  produce  an  idol  comparable  to  the 
Lord  of  Heaven  and  earth.  The  prefect  sent  for  a 
little  image  of  Jove  set  in  coral,  which  Savino, 
getting  leave  to  hold  it  in  his  hands,  flung  with 
all  his  strength  upon  the  marble  floor,  so  that  it 
broke  into  pieces.  The  furious  governor  bade  a 
soldier  cut  off  his  hands,  and  dismissed  him  to 
prison  for  future  torture,  while  the  deacons,  em- 
boldened by  such  courage,  refused  to  deny  their 
Lord  and  were  flung  into  the  Chiaggio  to  die. 

While  Savino  lingered  in  prison,  a  woman  from 
Spoleto  sought  him  out  and  asked  him  to  heal 
her  little  nephew,  who  was  blind.  The  saint 
called  upon  Christ  and  implored  Him  to  show 
His  saving  health  to  the  heathen,  and  then  touch- 
ing the  child's  eyes  restored  them  to  sight.  The 
boy  gave  the  glory  to  Christ,  and  eleven  bystanders, 
including   the   gaoler,  heathen  hitherto,  joined   in 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       41 

His  praises,  knelt  down  to  confess  His  name,  and 
received  baptism  from  the  bishop.  Just  at  this 
time  Venustiano  suffered  from  acute  spasms  of  pain 
in  his  eyes,  from  which  no  remedy  gave  him  relief. 
Hearing  of  this  cure  he  sent  for  the  boy  and  learned 
all  its  details.  Savino  was  brought  from  prison,  and 
when  the  boy  led  him  in,  the  prefect  wept  before 
him,  asking  his  pardon  and  his  help.  The  old  man 
raised  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  prayed :  '^  He  will 
give  thee  light,  who  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world,  but  thou  must  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ."  Then  the  prefect  ground  the  pieces 
of  his  once  cherished  idol  into  powder  and  flung  it 
away.  So  Savino  took  water  and  sprinkled  him 
with  all  the  members  of  his  family,  baptising  them 
in  the  new  name,  and  with  the  water  came  light, 
and  his  eyes  were  whole  again.  In  a  transport  of 
gratitude  the  prefect  flung  himself  at  Savino's  feet, 
and  asked  him  to  entreat  God's  pardon  for  the 
cruelty  he  had  shown,  and  most  tenderly  the 
bishop  assured  and  comforted  him.  The  news 
was  quickly  carried  to  Maximian  at  Rome,  and 
he  sent  the  tribune  Lucius  with  orders  to  put 
Venustiano,  his  wife  and  his  children  to  death, 
the  Roman's  death  by  decapitation.  Their  fellow- 
Christians  in  Assisi  gave  them  burial.  But  Savino 
was  beaten  to  death. 

Assisi  had  her  full  share  in  the  sufferings  of  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  when  Italy  was  the  battle- 
field of  Goths,  Huns,  Franks,  Alemannians  and 
Lombards.     Like  some  other  cities  of  the  peninsula. 


42  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

she  called  in  the  assistance  of  the  Byzantine  Em- 
peror and  was  ruled  by  his  delegate,  a  Gothic 
soldier,  who  oddly  enough  took  service  in  the  Greek 
army.  This  man,  called  Siegfried,  led  the  towns- 
people in  a  heroic  resistance  against  Totila,  and 
made  sorties  from  the  gates  in  gallant  attack.  In 
one  of  these  he  fell,  and  the  citizen  levy,  disheart- 
ened, fled  back,  surrendering  Assisi  to  the  Huns, 
who  tore  down  its  walls,  temples  and  public  build- 
ings. 

But  again  we  get  a  glimpse  of  a  heroic  bishop, 
no  longer  the  head  of  a  persecuted  remnant,  but 
the  overseer  of  the  local  church,  and  the  man  who, 
when  Siegfried  fell,  seems  to  have  come  forward  to 
negotiate  with  Totila.  Aventius  was  his  name,  and 
the  conqueror  respected  him  sufficiently  to  make  him 
his  legate  to  the  Byzantine  court,  although  we  know 
neither  his  mission  nor  its  success.  Perhaps  Totila 
asked  for  alliance  and  for  recognition  as  lord  of  the 
Italian  cities  which  he  had  conquered.  If  so, 
Justinian  refused  to  listen  to  terms  from  the  bar- 
barian, and  sent  first  unfortunate  Belisarius  and 
then  Narses,  who  broke  the  power  of  the  Huns 
and  recovered  Italy  for  the  Eastern  Empire. 

But  scarcely  were  the  horrors  of  this  time  at  an 
end,  when  Italy  was  again  invaded  from  the  north, 
and  to  the  misery  of  war  renewed  were  added  floods, 
earthquakes  and  pestilence.  The  unhappy  country 
was  enfeebled  by  disease  and  starvation,  its  popula- 
tions were  reduced,  and  the  only  consolation  left 
was  the  rapid  death  of  its  foes,  menaced  more  by 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       4S 

plague  than  by  the  sword  of  Narses.  This  was  the 
moment  when  the  fierce  Lombards  fell  upon  its 
length  and  breadth  as  far  as  Rome,  possessing  them- 
selves of  Umbria  as  they  passed.  Assisi  perhaps 
made  terms  with  Spoleto,  whose  Lombard  Duke 
Ariulfo  rose  to  considerable  power  and  even 
threatened  Rome.  But  for  centuries  the  annals 
of  Assisi  are  almost  dumb,  and  we  hear  nothing  of 
her  civic  and  political  condition,  so  that  her  prob- 
able relation  to  the  Duchy  of  Spoleto  is  conjecture. 
The  name  of  her  bishop  Aquilino  appears  amongst 
those  summoned  to  Pope  Martin  L's  Council  in  659. 
Her  Church  seems  to  have  become  infected  with 
the  Arianism  of  her  Lombard  neighbours  and 
Charlemagne  desired  to  restore  Umbria  to  Roman 
Christianity.  He  took  Assisi  by  surprise  in  773, 
first  levelling  its  walls  and  then  rebuilding  them, 
and  his  chief  care  was  to  import  a  colony  of  Roman 
Christians.  But  the  old  citizens  were  almost  annihi- 
lated because  of  their  gallant  resistance,  and  the 
civil  wars  that  followed  renewed  miseries  from 
which  they  had  been  recovering. 

Either  during  this  restoration  of  Assisi,  or  im- 
mediately after,  the  castle,  or  Rocca  d' Assisi,  was 
raised  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  which  forms  a  buttress 
to  the  broad-based  Subasio,  and  up  which  the  town 
climbs  towards  its  now  ruined  fortress.  Built  for 
protection,  the  castle  with  its  towers  and  keep  and 
ramparts,  its  walls  descending  on  either  flank  of 
the  city  to  encircle  it  with  fortifications,  proved  to 
be   a   lure   inviting  attack,   and   during   the   fierce 


44  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

hostility  between  Popes  and  Emperors  poor  Assisi 
was  the  objective  of  many  a  German  adventurer, 
who  knew  better  than  her  citizens  how  to  occupy 
and  defend  the  beautiful  fortress  which  the  latter 
had  built.  Charles  the  Great  had  presented  the 
cities  of  Umbria  and  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna  to 
the  Papal  Curia,  then  glad  enough  of  imperial  pat- 
ronage and  gifts,  so  that  Assisi  counted  as  part  of 
the  Papal  States,  and  for  that  sufficient  reason  was 
in  constant  danger  from  the  Germans. 

The  city  slipped  back  soon  after  the  eighth 
century  into  tributary  alliance  with  Spoleto,  and 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  two  succeeding  centuries 
claimed  judgment  from  the  Duke  of  Spoleto  in  the 
numerous  disputes  between  her  ecclesiastics  and 
the  rural  counts,  who  had  possessed  themselves  of 
suburban  lands,  and  were  in  constant  litigation  with 
both  Church  and  town. 

Documents  belonging  to  the  annals  of  the  ninth, 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  are  very  numerous, 
but  relate  more  to  the  attendance  of  her  bishops 
at  Lateran  Councils  in  Rome ;  to  the  exchange, 
sale  and  purchase  of  property  ;  to  the  prominence, 
as  castellan,  of  this  and  that  Lombard  and  German 
count,  or  to  the  disputes  between  counts  and  abbots 
as  to  the  ownership  of  certain  lands,  than  to  matters 
of  more  immediate  interest.  But  some  of  them 
celebrate  the  building  of  churches  and  monasteries, 
and,  amongst  the  latter,  of  the  large  and  wealthy 
monastery  of  St.  Benedict,  which  was  raised  upon 
the  southern  slope  of  Monte  Subasio,  at  some  dis- 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       45 

tance  east  of  the  town,  in  1041,  and  whose  abbot, 
Aginaldo,  founded  the  church  and  nunnery  of  St. 
Paul  down  in  the  plain  thirty  years  later.  Earlier 
in  the  century  the  church  of  St.  Peter  had  been 
built,  perhaps  by  one  of  the  Lombard  counts,  and 
during  its  whole  course  religious  settlements  were 
established  within  and  without  the  walls,  the 
Benedictines  predominating  as  founders.  The 
bishops  encouraged  their  spread.  One  of  these. 
Bishop  Hugo,  whose  episcopate  lasted  from  1036 
to  1050,  revived  local  interest  in  San  Rufino  and 
San  Savino,  building  a  church  to  the  latter  on  the 
site  of  the  ruined  Temple  of  Janus,  and  raising  the 
cathedral  of  San  Rufino  over  the  little  oratory 
beneath  which  his  bones  had  rested  for  eight 
centuries.  He  transferred  the  episcopal  chair  to 
this  church  and  established  a  college  of  canons  in 
a  neighbouring  cloister.  This  pious  and  venerable 
prelate  was  succeeded  by  one  less  worthy,  Bishop 
Agino,  who  enriched  himself  by  the  tenure  of 
abbacies  and  other  benefices,  following  the  scan- 
dalous example  of  contemporary  ecclesiastics.  We 
find  him  in  far  greater  repute  than  his  humble 
predecessors,  appointed  arbitrator  in  a  court  held 
by  the  Duchess  of  Perugia,  wife  of  Geoffrey,  Duke 
of  Spoleto,  at  which  was  present  her  daughter 
Matilda,  afterwards  the  great  countess.  The  lust 
of  power,  which  had  taken  possession  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  had  spread  far  and  wide.  The  old  rivalry 
with  Perugia  broke  out  before  the  death  of  Bishop 
Hugo,    and  Todi   with  Foligno    took    part   on   the 


46  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

side  of  Assisi,  a  sign  of  advancing  civic  inde- 
pendence, but  the  long  strife  in  Italy  and  the 
constant  usurpation  and  tyranny  of  imperial  ad- 
venturers delayed  even  while  they  stimulated  the 
popular  longing  for  its  development. 

Five  bishops  held  the  see  during  the  twelfth 
century,  men  interested  in  the  advancement  of 
Assisi,  for  to  their  time  belong  both  the  hospital  of 
San  Rufino  and  the  school  opened  in  San  Giorgio 
for  educating  the  children  of  its  townspeople. 

It  was  the  period  of  the  Lombard  League,  which 
checked  imperial  ambition,  although  before  the 
battle  of  Legnano,  Barbarossa's  chancellor,  Arch- 
bishop Christian,  invaded  Umbria  and  possessed 
himself  of  both  Spoleto  and  Assisi,  an  event  which 
once  more  delayed  the  slow- maturing  commune. 
Until  he  entered  the  city,  much  as  Charlemagne 
had  done  three  centuries  earlier,  by  a  drain,  Assisi 
was  only  nominally  subject  to  Barbarossa,  and  there 
are  indications  of  an  understanding  between  the 
commune  and  her  nobles,  an  alliance  for  defensive 
purposes,  celebrated  in  1 1 60  by  a  donation  to  the 
citizens  of  land  and  castles  on  the  part  of  Count 
OfTreduccio,  and  accepted  by  Bishop  Ranieri  in 
their  name  at  an  assembly  of  the  nobles,  clergy 
and  townspeople  held  in  the  cathedral,  on  the  sole 
condition  that  Assisi  should  help  the  donor  in  the 
perils  of  that  time. 

But  Christian's  siege  and  capture  followed  soon 
after,  and  was  the  Emperor's  answer  to  so  manifest 
an  intention  of  home  rule. 


CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER       47 

Apparently  the  great  Hohenstaufen  was  himself 
in  Assisi  from  the  middle  of  December,  1177,  till 
after  the  new  year,  his  son  Henry  with  him.  The 
Emperor  took  all  authority  from  the  native  nobles 
and  invested  Conrad  of  Liitzen,  whom  he  had 
already  made  Duke  of  besieged  and  despoiled 
Spoleto,  with  the  government  and  title  of  Count 
of  Assisi.  He  was  less  of  a  tyrant  than  most  of 
the  Emperor's  deputies,  had  certain  whims  which 
secured  him  the  nickname  of  "  Conrad  Fly  in  his 
Head,"  but  he  allowed  the  town  to  join  the 
Umbrian  League  and,  as  we  have  seen,  he  sub- 
mitted to  Innocent  III.  in  1198.  Pier  Bernardone's 
house  stood  a  few  steps  behind  the  upper  comer  of 
the  piazza,  and  he  must  have  witnessed  the  imperial 
state  that  Christmas-tide,  four  years  before  his  son's 
birth,  and  have  shared  in  the  civic  discontent  with 
the  new  ruler. 


PART  II 
BIOGRAPHICAL 

CHAPTER  I 

FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE 

1181  —  1204 

Birth  of  Francis — His  Parents— Peter  Waldo— Childhood  of 
Francis — At  School — As  a  Youth— The  Commune  of 
Assisi — Francis  as  Citizen  and  Soldier — Prisoner  in 
Perugia — His  Release. 

FRANCIS,  son  of  Pier  Bernardone,  was  bom 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  1181,  just  four 
years  after  Barbarossa's  visit,  and  shortly  after  the 
death  of  Pope  Alexander  III.,  to  whom  the  proud 
Hohenstaufen  had  knelt  in  St.  Mark's. 

September  the  twenty-sixth  is  celebrated  in  As- 
sisi as  the  exact  date  of  his  birth,  but  it  cannot  be 
certified. 

His  father  was  a  merchant  in  silks  and  cloths, 
making  long  journeys  for  sale  and  purchase. 

Umbrian  silk  was  a  more  important  manufacture 
then  than  now,  although  the  mulberry  still  flourishes 
for  the  double  purpose  of  feeding  the  silkworm  and 
(48) 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     4.9 

supporting  the  vine.  But  the  quality  of  silken 
tissue  made  in  the  present  day  is  inferior  to  that 
of  other  silk-weaving  districts  in  Italy,  perhaps 
because  leaves  of  the  elm  are  used  as  well  as  of 
the  mulberry.  Pier  Bernardone,  an  Assisan  him- 
self, married  a  lady  known  to  us  as  Pica,  perhaps 
a  foreigner  and  of  gentle  birth,  but  content  to  be 
the  wealthy  merchant's  wife.  Indeed,  the  mer- 
chants of  that  time  were  rising  everywhere  into 
importance,  and  M.  Sabatier  has  reminded  us  of 
the  conspicuous  part  which  they  played  in  the 
middle  ages  and  later,  travelling  with  their  valu- 
able wares  in  strong  companies  from  market  to 
market,  from  castle  to  castle,  where  not  alone  their 
silks  and  velvets  made  them  welcome,  but  also  their 
knowledge  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  countries 
traversed  by  their  caravans.  It  was  usual  for 
them  to  receive  shelter  and  hospitality  where 
they  halted  ;  to  carry  oral  messages  and  missives 
of  political  import ;  to  be  the  special  agents  of 
princes  and  papal  legates.  The  position  of  such 
men  cannot  be  confounded  with  that  of  petty 
tradesmen,  as  their  necessary  conversance  with 
other  languages  than  their  own,  their  use  of 
courtly  manners,  and  their  value  in  those  days 
when  the  exchange  of  despatches  and  the  con- 
veyance of  money  or  jewels  was  beset  with  difficul- 
ties, must  have  given  them  both  personal  dignity 
and  exceptional  knowledge  of  the  world. 

Provencal   was   the   language    in    all    probability 
most  familiar  to   Bernardone,  and    it    is    surmised 
4 


50  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

that  Madonna  Pica  had  been  wooed  and  won  in 
Southern  France,  in  the  gay  accents  of  her  native 
tongue.  For  Southern  France  was  Bernardone's 
goal  when  he  set  out  with  bales  and  escort,  and 
we  can  picture  him  at  the  fairs  of  its  cities,  where 
the  world's  commerce  was  transacted,  and  where, 
as  at  Venice  and  in  the  towns  of  Southern  Ger- 
many, men  of  all  nations  met  each  other  for  barter 
and  to  exchange  news  from  England  on  the  West 
to  Egypt  on  the  East. 

In  Southern  France,  during  the  years  before  his 
son's  birth,  there  was  much  talk  of  heresy.  A 
money-lender  called  Peter  Waldo,  who  had  made 
a  great  fortune  by  his  dubious  trade,  was  stricken 
with  contrition  on  hearing  the  story  of  St.  Alexius 
from  a  traveller,  probably  a  pilgrim.  This  was  in 
the  city  of  Lyons,  and  in  the  year  1171.  The 
death  of  the  saint,  who  had  given  up  all  that  he 
might  not  be  drawn  into  a  worldly  life,  and  who 
returned  to  his  wife  and  parents  as  a  dying  men- 
dicant, unrecognised  by  them  till  the  last,  made 
so  profound  an  impression  upon  Waldo,  that  he 
consulted  a  master  of  theology  as  to  what  he 
should  do  to  be  saved.  The  divine  spoke  Christ's 
word  to  the  man  of  many  possessions  :  "  Go,  sell 
all  that  thou  hast,  give  it  to  the  poor  and  come 
follow  Me." 

Peter  Waldo  received  the  command  with  child- 
like faith  and  obedience.  He  settled  his  house 
and  lands  upon  his  wife,  with  money  sufficient  for 
her  maintenance,  and  put  aside   funds   to    provide 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER   BERNARDONE     51 

for  his  little  daughters  as  nuns  in  the  order  of 
Fontevraux.  He  then  realised  all  that  remained 
of  his  fortune  and  began  to  distribute  it  to  the 
poor.  A  famine  was  desolating  the  country  dur- 
ing that  summer,  and  three  times  a  week  he  gave 
bread,  vegetables  and  meat  to  all  who  came  to 
him.  But  on  15th  August,  not  satisfied  that  he 
was  fully  carrying  out  Christ's  injunction,  he  went 
amongst  the  poor  on  the  streets,  flinging  money 
to  them  and  calling  aloud :  "  No  man  can  serve 
two  masters,  God  and  Mammon." 

The  people  crowded  about  him  thinking  him 
mad,  but  he  declared  that  when  they  found  him 
accumulating  money  they  might  call  him  mad,  for 
only  he  was  mad  who  trusted  to  wealth  and  forbore 
to  trust  in  God. 

Then,  having  given  away  all  that  he  possessed, 
he  went  to  a  friend  to  beg  bread,  who  gave  it  wil- 
lingly and  promised  it  for  his  life-time.  Waldo's 
wife  was  deeply  v/ounded  that  her  husband  should 
seek  for  maintenance  from  any  one  but  herself, 
and  went  to  the  Arclibishop,  who  recognised  her 
right,  and  granted  her  permission  to  provide  for  his 
daily  needs,  but  more  than  meagre  fare  and  simplest 
clothing  the  penitent  would  not  accept.  His  next 
step  was  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Patristic  writings.  Two 
priests  aided  him  in  this,  as  he  did  not  know 
Latin.  He  grew  familiar  with  Christ's  methods 
of  proclaiming  the  gospel,  and  of  organising,  in- 
structing and   consecrating   its  missionaries.      This 


52  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

opened  to  him  the  next  stage  on  the  path  of 
obedience.  Men  and  women  of  the  poorer  classes 
crowded  to  him,  confident  tliat  his  holy  poverty 
meant  some  definite  hope  for  them,  at  a  time 
when  the  poor  were  crashed  under  the  arrogant 
heal  of  authority.  Already  he  had  a  band  of  fol- 
lowers, willing  to  trust  the  spiritual  rather  than 
the  material  providence,  and  becoming  confident 
that  the  latter  was  assured  in  sufficient  measure. 

Waldo  and  his  disciples  began  to  preach  repent- 
ance and  obedience  to  Christ's  commands  in  the 
streets  of  Lyons.  After  a  short  time  he  sent  them, 
two  by  two,  to  the  outlying  towns  and  villages, 
where  they  were  welcomed  into  the  houses  and 
even  into  the  churches.  Lyons  and  its  neighbour- 
hood were  soon  ringing  with  the  forgotten  teaching 
of  Jesus,  which  had  lain  in  cerements  of  Latin  for 
a  thousand  years.  The  people  listened  gladly,  for 
beautiful  in  all  ages  are  the  feet  of  the  messengers 
of  peace. 

In  all  things  our  Lord's  instructions  were  followed. 
Two  by  two,  the  Waldensians  went  from  place  to 
place,  from  country  to  country.  They  wore  sandals 
of  wood,  a  simple  tunic  of  woollen  cloth,  and  car- 
ried neither  purse  nor  scrip,  trusting  to  the  hospi- 
tality of  those  to  whom  they  preached.  They 
renounced  possessions  and  settled  homes,  since  the 
Son  of  Man  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  It  was 
these  preachers  and  teachers  who  were  called  Wal- 
densians, not  the  people  to  whom  they  ministered. 
The   latter  mijrht  form   con,2:regations    and    accept 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     53 

evangelical  creed  and  practice,  but,  unless  they  de- 
sired to  become  missionary  brethren,  they  were  not 
called  upon  to  give  up  their  trades  and  homes,  for 
Christ  had  consecrated  home  life,  and  only  demanded 
poverty  and  renunciation  from  those  whom  He  com- 
missioned to  teach  and  preach.  This  must  be  kept 
strictly  in  mind,  because  these  so-called  heretics 
were  a  protest  against  that  wealth,  material  power 
and  worldly  authority  which  cankered  Curia,  hier- 
archy and  monastic  life.  When  men  spoke  of  the 
Waldensians,  they  meant  these  poor  preachers 
whom  Waldo  sent  out  from   Lyons. 

We  have  not  space  in  which  to  narrate  their  ex- 
traordinary success  throughout  Southern  France  and 
Switzerland,  Savoy  and  Lombardy.  In  two  years 
the  importance  of  their  work  was  recognised  in 
Rome,  and  some  of  them  were  summoned  to  the 
Lateran  Council  held  by  Alexander  III.  in  1179- 
Peter  Waldo  placed  a  translation  into  the  vernacular 
of  the  Psalms  and  several  other  Scriptures  before 
the  Pope,  and  asked  his  permission  to  preach.  Our 
bishop,  Walter  Map,  was  deputed  with  two  others  to 
examine  Waldo  and  his  colleagues,  and  ibreseeing 
the  effect  of  preaching  a  life  of  holy  poverty  upon 
the  popular  attitude  towards  his  own  wealthy  and 
luxurious  order,  he  sought  to  enmesh  them  in  the 
subtleties  of  scholastic  theology,  and  prevented 
Alexander  from  granting  their  request  on  the 
ground  of  their  incompetence.  So,  although  the 
Pope  embraced  Waldo,  moved  to  tears  by  his 
humility,  he   made   pretext   after  pretext  for  delay. 


54  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

and  died  without  giving  the  desired  permission. 
For  Waldo  did  not  wish  to  leave  the  Church,  nor  to 
place  himself  in  opposition  to  its  authority.  Like 
John  Wesley,  six  centuries  later  in  England,  he 
longed  to  serve  the  Church  through  Christ's  com- 
mission. But  the  hierarchy  would  have  nought  of 
Christ,  and  bishops  and  archbishops  industriously 
followed  Walter  Map's  initiative,  until  the  Walden- 
sians  were  in  such  ill  odour  at  Rome  that  Lucius 
in.  placed  them  under  the  papal  ban  in  1 184,  as 
one  of  the  thirty-two  heretical  sects  against  which 
his   Bull  was  promulgated. 

Persecution  was  the  incentive  which,  while  exil- 
ing them  from  the  Church,  opened  their  eyes  to 
the  contrast  between  the  authority  wielded  by  the 
Curia  and  the  authority  given  to  the  Apostles  by  our 
Lord.  Never  did  Rome  pui^ue  a  more  impolitic 
course  than  when  it  emphasised  this  contrast  by  re- 
pudiating those  who  followed  implicitly  the  instruc- 
tions of  Christ.  A  later  Pope,  led  by  one  of  his 
wisest  cardinals,  refrained  from  repeating  Alexan- 
der's blunder  when  a  similar  crisis  arose. 

But  the  Waldensian  influence  spread  and  matured 
into  an  evangelical  Church,  which  neither  misprision 
nor  persecution  has  availed  to  destroy,  and  now  that 
more  than  seven  centuries  have  passed,  the  Church 
of  the  Waldensians  is  the  most  active  and  honoured 
of  those  which  are  opposed  to  the  ecclesiastical 
domination  of  the  Curia. 

These  "  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  '  made  a  consider- 
able  stir   during  the   final   quarter  of  the  twelfth 


FRANXIS,  SOX  OF  PIER  BERXARDOXE     55 

century,  and  Pier  Bemardone  must  have  met  them 
as  he  travelled  in  Southern  France  and  in  Lom- 
bardy,  faring  two  by  two  on  their  preaching  tours. 
He  would  hear  of  all  that  befel  them,  and  would 
know  well  that  the  '•'  common  people  heard  them 
gladly  ".  On  his  return  to  Assisi,  doubtless  he  would 
tell,  amongst  much  else,  the  story  of  these  gospel 
mendicants,  perhaps  laughing  at  their  infatuation, 
perhaps  with  some  not  unkindly  compassion  for 
their  sufferings.  The  movement  was  too  conspicuous 
to  be  ignored  by  one  who  went  and  came  through 
Lombardy  and  the  valleys  to  Southern  France.  So 
while  Francis  was  a  child,  a  boy,  a  youth,  he  would 
hear  from  year  to  year  of  these  men. 

Of  his  childhood  we  know  very  little.  Legends 
gathered  round  the  story  of  his  infancy,  but  they 
were  almost  inevitable  in  the  time  and  to  the  people, 
when  books  did  not  exist,  and  accuracy  had  small 
chance  beside  loving  imagination.  But  Francis 
needs  no  tender  legends  of  angehc  voices,  angelic 
predictions,  angelic  sponsor  at  his  baptism,  which 
took  place  in  the  cathedral  of  San  Rufino,  probably 
a  few  days  after  his  birth,  and  in  the  absence  of  his 
father,  who  was  visiting  the  autumn  fairs.  The 
name  given  to  him  at  the  font  was  Giovanni,  and 
perhaps  the  Baptist  was  his  patron  saint,  the  herald 
of  Christ,  who  went  out  into  the  wilderness  to  call 
men  to  repentance. 

But  when  Bernardone  returned  from  France  he 
picked  up  the  babe  with  a  gay  greeting  to  his 
*' little    Frenchman/'    and    Francesco   became    the 


56  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

home  name,  the  Hfe  name,  the  everlasting  name. 
It  was  unique  at  the  time,  though  kings  and  em- 
perors were  proud  to  bear  it  in  generations  that 
followed.  This  incident  strengthens  the  surmise 
that  Madonna   Pica  came  from   Provence. 

Her  first-born  inherited  his  mother's  nature, 
rather  than  that  of  his  burly,  business-like,  dom- 
ineering father,  to  whom  his  younger  brother  Angelus 
seems  to  have  had  a  greater  resemblance.  From 
her  he  must  have  drawn  both  the  delicate  body 
and  gracious  nature  which  distinguished  him.  And 
from  her  he  learned  the  earliest  lessons  of  life,  the 
manners  and  dainty  fastidiousness  by  which  he  first 
expressed  his  instinctive  making  for  perfection  as  it 
revealed  its  climbing  steps.  From  her,  too,  he 
received  in  gentle  hints,  example  and  absorbing 
story  that  education  of  his  intuitive  reverence  and 
devotion,  which  grew  into  steady  saintliness.  Hand 
in  hand  the  mother  and  child  would  walk  down 
the  steep  streets  from  Bernardone's  house  behind 
the  municipal  palace,  and  through  the  olive  garths, 
to  the  tiny  church  of  St.  Maiy  of  the  Little  Portion, 
most  cherished  of  suburban  shrines  in  those  days. 
For  it  had  a  history  nearly  as  old  as  the  Assisan 
Church.  Built  early  in  the  sixth  century  by  St. 
Benedict  during  a  pilgrimage  over  his  native 
Umbria,  for  the  settlement  of  brotherhoods  belong- 
ing to  his  order,  it  was,  even  before  his  days,  a 
place  where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made,  for  a 
little  oratory  existed  there,  shaped  like  a  tomb, 
which  perhaps  it  was,  and  legend  ascribed  the  ruin 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     51 

to  palmers  from  the  East,  who  had  placed  in  it  a 
relic  from  the  Virgin  Mary's  sepulchre.  Benedict 
found  their  ruined  oratory,  and  caused  the  sanc- 
tuary to  be  built,  and  of  his  erection  a  wide  door 
and  the  bases  of  its  walls  exist  still  in  spite  of  scathe 
and  pillage  through  fourteen  centuries  till  now.  For 
its  walls  were  made  of  stout  blocks  of  travertine, 
and  local  veneration  prompted  repair  when  earth- 
quake or  barbarian  had  unroofed  them,  so  that  the 
angels  never  ceased  to  abide  there,  or  to  guard 
their  hallowed  memories.  For  since  it  was  a  shrine 
built  for  the  peasants  and  the  poor,  where  the  con- 
trite might  know  the  presence  of  God,  it  had  no 
lure  to  distract  from  single-minded  worship. 

Hither  Madonna  Pica  would  lead  her  boy,  and  as 
they  climbed  home  again,  she  doubtless  told  him 
the  sweet  stories  of  okl,  and  pointed  out  to  him  the 
remote  Chiaggio,  in  which  so  many  of  Assisi's  sons 
had  passed  into  life  eternal  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 

Other  instructions  he  had  as  he  grew  into  boy- 
hood, for  a  little  down  the  hill  from  his  lather's  house, 
towards  the  great  plain,  stood  the  beautiful  Church 
of  San  Giorgio,  now  incorporated  in  Santa  Chiara, 
where  the  clerical  school  for  Assisan  boys  had  been 
opened  a  century  before  his  birth.  Here  he  learned 
to  read  and  write,  and  was  taught  Latin  sufficiently 
well  to  enable  him  to  use  it  in  after  years,  if  not 
with  perfect  facility,  still  in  a  style  not  far  behind 
that  of  the  ecclesiastics  themselves.  Another  im- 
portant accomplishment  acquired  at  San  Giorgio 
was  the  best  Italian  vernacular  of  the  Middle  Ages, 


58  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

which  he,  long  before  Dante,  was  to  use  as  an 
exquisite  poetic  medium.  At  home,  if  Madonna 
Pica  was  a  native  of  Provence,  the  Proven9al  which 
came  so  naturally  to  Francis  would  be  his  mother- 
tongue,  and  Pica  perhaps  taught  her  boy  its  dainty 
canticles  and  chants  d'amour,  which  were  the  chief 
literary  expression  of  that  day,  echoing  fi'om  country 
to  country,  in  Southern  Germany  and  even  in  Eng- 
land, and  caught  up  with  sympathetic  rapture  in 
Italy,  where,  even  now,  the  plains  and  fields  are 
filled  with  long,  lingering  cadences  first  heard  a 
millennium  ago. 

As  he  grew  older,  he  may  have  gone  with  Ber- 
nardone  on  his  rounds,  although  we  have  no  evidence 
on  which  to  rest  the  conjecture,  except  his  familiarity 
with  the  Troubadour  contests  of  song,  the  Courts  of 
Love,  the  rondels  and  chansonnettes  in  which  royal 
and  knightly  rivals  delighted  to  celebrate  the  beauty 
of  some  chosen  damsel. 

To  a  strain  of  gentle  birth  may  be  attributed  his 
preference  of  the  beautiful,  the  romantic,  to  the 
homely  realities  of  life.  As  he  passed  from  boyhood 
to  youth,  these  tastes  became  so  marked  as  to  single 
him  out,  even  amongst  the  young  nobles  of  Assisi, 
for  fastidiousness  in  food,  dress  and  personal  clean- 
liness. This  last  characteristic  clung  to  him  through 
life,  in  spite  of  the  poverty  which  he  wooed,  and  we 
find  it  in  the  exquisite  stanza  of  his  Canticle  of  the 
Sun,  composed  nearly  at  the  end  of  his  life,  where  he 
praises  God  for  "our  sister  water,  who  is  very  useful, 
lowly,  valuable  and  clean". 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     59 

His  intense  solicitude  for  the  cleanliness  of 
churches,  pyxes  and  awmbries,  of  all  vessels  con- 
nected with  the  Church  celebrations,  is  another 
proof  of  its  presence  in  him  to  the  end.  For  there 
was  too  great  a  tendency  to  neglect  and  disorder 
in  such  matters  then,  and  to  Francis  this  was  a 
constant  source  of  regret.  But  in  his  youth  the 
loftier  uses  of  cleanliness  were  less  pressing  than 
the  more  immediate,  and  he  spent  much  pains  on 
his  slim  and  graceful  person,  investing  it  in  tunics 
and  mantles  of  beautiful  texture  and  colour,  and 
loving  the  sheen  and  flash  of  jewelled  clasp  and 
brooch.  The  same  daintiness  characterised  his  use 
of  food,  and  we  learn  that  he  shrank  from  meat  and 
messes,  and  liked  cakes  and  sweets  and  delicate 
dishes. 

What  he  loved  best  of  all  in  those  days  was  the 
world  of  romance,  and  he  was  leader  in  the  mimic 
tournaments  of  song  and  jest  which  occupied  the 
young  Assisan  nobles.  The  sons  of  Lombard 
counts,  perhaps  of  German,  certainly  of  Assisan 
fief-holders,  liegemen  of  the  Empire,  whose  de- 
scendants still  occupy  the  ancient  palaces  and 
gardens,  had  been  his  school-fellows.  His  gaiety, 
graciousness,  genius,  and  the  wealth  which  enabled 
him  to  go  choicely  clad,  made  him  their  favourite 
companion,  a  fact  which  reconciled  the  miserly 
Bernardone  to  his  extravagance,  although  on  one 
occasion  he  reprimanded  him  not  unnaturally  for 
some  excessive  expenditure. 

He  was  essential  to  every  banquet,  every  merry- 


60  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

making,  where  his  quick  repartee,  gift  of  song  and 
joyousness  radiated  good-fellowship.  And  when  he 
headed  the  fantastic  processions  and  mummeries 
of  the  time,  he  would  improvise  new  lays  of  love 
and  go  singing  down  the  streets  at  the  head  of  his 
band  of  friends — a  brilliant  spectacle,  which  brought 
the  townsfolk  to  their  windows  and  doors  to  look 
and  listen.  But  nearly  every  biographer,  from 
the  thirteenth  century  till  to-day,  testifies  to  his 
freedom  from  all  vicious  excess,  to  the  essential 
purity  of  his  life.  As  he  shrank  from  the  coarser 
adjuncts  of  existence,  so  he  shrank  from  vice. 
Mind,  spirit  and  body  were  in  harmony,  loving  all 
things  that  were  pure  and  lovely  and  of  good 
report.  He  had  not  yet  discovered  that  plane  of 
inspiration  where  our  eyes  open  to  tilings  immortal, 
and  we  reverse  our  appraisal  of  the  things  that 
perish,  but  he  refused  to  descend  to  that  dark 
plane  where  men  wallow  in  things  carnal  and 
destructive. 

He  was  sixteen  years  old  when  the  last  im- 
perial ceremony  was  held  in  Assisi.  In  1197  Count 
Conrad,  who  had  finally  abandoned  Spoleto,  where 
the  Guelfs  had  become  stronger  than  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  began  to  feel  the  growing  influence  of  the 
communal  spirit  in  Assisi,  which  his  own  laxity 
had  fostered.  He  remained  in  the  castle  with  his 
retinue  and  garrison.  Its  great  strength  induced 
the  widow  of  Henry  VI.  to  commit  the  little 
Frederick  II.  to  Conrad's  care.  The  child  was 
only  three   years  old,  and  the   Assisans  witnessed 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     6l 

his  baptism  in  San  Rufino,  in  the  font  where,  six- 
teen years  before,  Francis  had  been  immersed. 
"  It  was,"  says  Cristofani,  "  the  last  flash  of  imperial 
splendour."  Fifteen  bishops  and  cardinals  helped 
to  christen  Frederick,  who  was  to  give  the  Papacy 
more  trouble  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  But 
who  that  visits  San  Rufino  thinks  now  of  the  heir 
of  the  Empire  of  the  West  }  It  is  Francis,  heir 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  entered  into  his 
heritage,  that  draws  us  thither. 

Early  next  year  Innocent  III.  became  Pope,  and 
Perugia,  Assisi,  Foligno,  Trevi,  Spoleto  and  Rieti 
declared  for  his  sovereignty.  His  legate  took  over, 
not  only  the  castle  of  Assisi,  which  the  townsmen 
attacked  and  wrested  from  its  imperial  garrison, 
but  also  the  guardianship  of  the  child-king  of 
Sicily  in  Innocent's  name.  Conrad  tendered  his 
submission  at  Narni,  and  surrendered  all  lands, 
cities  and  castles,  which  he  had  held  for  the 
Empire.  The  Assisans  set  themselves  to  the  work 
of  pulling  down  their  castle,  its  double  walls  and 
towers,  determined  in  their  new-found  freedom 
from  the  foreigner  to  offer  no  eyrie  for  another 
bird  of  prey,  but  they  strengthened  the  walls  that 
girded  their  city  and  built  towers  of  massive  form 
and  foundations  to  protect  the  lands  restored  to 
them. 

Pope  Innocent  required  a  very  absolute  subjec- 
tion from  his  Umbrian  cities,  and  signified  that  his 
love  and  patronage  depended  on  their  obedience, 
and  it  is    grimly  entertaining  to  note   that   along 


62  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

with  the  loyal  protestation  towards  his  Holiness, 
they  prosecuted  these  labours  and  appointed  their 
consuls  and  deliberated  their  own  affairs.  The 
people  were  now  the  masters,  althoui^h  they  gladly 
admitted  to  their  commune  and  its  privileges  such 
of  the  nobles  as  had  been  loyal  to  the  town, 
making  them  consuls  and  conceding  to  them  the 
right  of  forming  a  body  of  cavalry  in  times  of  war. 
They  attacked  those  nobles,  however,  who  placed 
themselves  in  haughty  opposition  to  the  commune, 
and  who  kept  bands  of  retainers  to  infest  the 
suburbs  and  harass  the  citizens. 

In  all  these  doings  Francis  doubtless  had  his  share, 
for  we  find  him,  after  this  revolution,  mounted  like 
a  young  noble  of  the  commune,  and  ready  to  take 
his  part  in  cavalry  expeditions.  Till  1202  Assisi 
was  engaged  in  these  historical  and  domestic 
affairs,  and  it  must  have  been  a  time  of  strenu- 
ous education  for  her  citizens,  and  amongst 
them  for  Francis,  the  most  observed  of  her 
jeunesse  doree.  He  was  twenty-one  years  old  by 
the  time  the  new  fortifications  were  finished,  the 
castles  of  the  suburban  counts  destroyed  and  civic 
peace  restored  for  a  short  interval.  We  might  also 
venture  to  surmise  that  he  had  borne  a  gallant  part 
in  those  years  of  energy  and  revival,  for  the  anec- 
dote of  a  man,  accounted  a  character  in  the  town, 
who  would  spread  his  mantle  for  Francis  to  tread 
upon,  and  bid  men  note  him  as  a  youth  called  to 
future  greatness,  seems  to  point  already  to  distinc- 
tion.     Giotto  painted  the  incident,  apparently  well 


INCIUEXT    IX    THE    YOUTH    OF    FRANCIS 
From  Giotco's  fresco  in  the  Upper  Cluircli  at  Assist 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     63 

known  in  Assisi,  emphasising  the  gentle  humourous- 
ness  with  which  Francis  accepts  the  attention,  as  of 
one  saying  :  "  Why  are  you  doing  this  ?  " 

He  was  busy,  too,  in  his  father's  shop,  and  showed 
considerable  commercial  aptitude,  which  disposed 
Bernardone  to  leniency  when  he  was  extravagant. 
Madonna  Pica  grieved  over  her  son's  tastes  and 
caprices.  She  feared  that  they  might  lead  him 
into  places  more  dangerous  than  the  wayward 
paths  of  romance  and  chivalry.  She  prayed  for 
him  without  ceasing,  and  comfort  was  vouchsafed 
to  her  anxious  mother-heart,  for  when  the  neigh- 
bours gossiped  to  her  of  his  mad  doings,  she 
answered  calmly :  '^  I  have  hope,  that  if  it  please 
God,  he  will  become  a  good  Christian." 

And,  indeed,  his  compassion  for  the  poor  betrayed 
his  preservation  from  that  worst  of  ills,  the  blunting 
of  human  tenderness,  the  hardening  of  the  heart  so 
often  incident  to  those  who  live  for  pleasure. 

It  was  a  time  when  few  were  rich  and  many  were 
poor.  The  crusaders  had  filled  all  countries  with 
the  disbanded  remnants  of  armies  consecrated  to 
conquest,  doomed  to  failure.  The  oppression  of  for- 
eigners had  forced  poverty  on  the  masses.  Lands 
were  left  uncultivated ;  the  troubles  of  those  days 
checked  industry  and  commerce ;  pestilence  fol- 
lowed war,  and  famine  was  the  handmaid  of  pes- 
tilence. Malarial  fevers  and  plagues  abounded. 
The  refugees  from  the  East  brought  leprosy  and 
ophthalmia  with  them.  Wherever  men  came  and 
went — blind,    emaciated,     covered   with    sores,    in 


64  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

rags  summer  and  winter — the  beggars  chanted 
their  doleful  demand. 

Francis,  with  that  sensitive  sympathy  for  sorrow 
which  belonged  to  a  nature  responsive  to  every 
human  emotion,  was  prone  to  constant  charity, 
even  in  those  days  of  careless  mirth  and  festivity. 
His  compassion  would  possess  him  like  a  sudden 
flame,  to  be  quenched  only  by  bountiful  giving, 
and  years  before  his  conversion  we  hear  of  his 
frequent  charity,  even  to  the  parting  with  his 
robes  and  mantles  when  cold  storms  from  the 
east  covered  the  mountains  with  snow  and  men- 
dicants shivered  by  the  wayside. 

One  day,  when  his  father's  shop  was  full  of 
customers,  a  persistent  beggar  annoyed  him  with 
asking  for  the  love  of  God.  Francis  repulsed  him 
in  a  moment  of  pressure  and  impatience,  but  his 
tender  conscience  reproached  him  with  the  reminder 
that,  had  the  man  begged  in  this  count's  name 
or  that  baron's,  he  would  not  have  sent  him 
away,  and  yet  he  had  driven  from  the  door  one 
who  begged  in  the  name  of  God.  So  he  ran  after 
him  to  tender  alms  and  ask  his  pardon. 

But  in  1202  Assisi  was  again  involved  in  war. 
The  suburban  counts,  whose  castles  she  had  de- 
stroyed as  far  as  Nocera,  at  that  time  within  the 
radius  of  her  suzerainty,  conspired  to  avenge  their 
wrongs  upon  the  valiant  little  commune.  Amongst 
them  was  Count  Girardo  di  Gislerio,  who,  having 
lands  near  Perugia,  made  submission  to  its  podesta, 
and  conspired  with  seven  other  dispossessed  nobles 


FRANCIS,  SON  OF  PIER  BERNARDONE     65 

to  secure  its  assistance  against  Assisi.  His  castle 
of  Sasso  Rosso  had  not  only  been  damaged,  but, 
with  its  lands,  had  been  given  to  Count  Favorino 
degli  Sciffi,  an  Assisan  of  rank. 

The  opportunity  was  eagerly  accepted,  for  Peru- 
gia longed  to  place  the  hated  town  under  her 
griffin's  claw.  The  Assisans  flew  to  arms,  refused 
to  reinstate  the  Lombard  and  German  counts, 
whom  they  no  longer  accounted  fellow-townsmen, 
and  boldly  advanced  across  the  plain  to  meet  their 
foes. 

Francis  rode  in  the  body  of  patriotic  cavalry. 
The  encounter  took  place  between  Bastia  and 
Ponte  di  San  Giovanni,  about  midway  between 
the  hostile  cities,  and  proved  to  be  a  defeat  for 
Assisi,  and  their  foes  returned  to  Perugia  with  the 
spoils  of  victory  and  many  prisoners,  amongst  whom 
was  Francis.  For  a  whole  year  he  and  his  com- 
panions were  kept  in  custody.  While  the  others 
lamented  and  grumbled,  he  retained  his  cheerful- 
ness, made  plans  of  glorious  adventure  for  the 
future,  boasted  even  a  little  in  his  humourous 
fashion.  "One  day,"  he  said,  ''you  shall  see 
how  the  whole  world  will  adore  me."  His  day- 
dreams were  of  glory  and  success,  although  we 
cannot  judge  what  he  exactly  meant  at  a  time 
when  young  imaginations  found  nothing  impossible 
in  heaven  or  on  earth.  But  he  spoke  straight  to 
the  grumblers,  and  refused  to  share  in  their  un- 
kindness  to  a  fellow -captive  whom  they  disliked 
and  whom  he  consoled  and  reconciled  to  the  rest. 
5 


66  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

After  their  fellow-townsmen  had  suffered  a  year's 
imprisonment,  the  Assisans  agreed  to  submit  the 
difference  to  arbitration,  and  the  judges  sentenced 
them  to  repair  the  castles,  to  restore  the  lands 
despoiled,  and  to  receive  the  exiles  back  again,  on 
condition  that  they  made  no  further  attacks  on  the 
citizens,  and  pledged  themselves  to  enter  into  no 
alliance  with  their  enemies  in  future.  So  about 
the  end  of  1203  Francis  returned  to  Assisi  with 
his  fellow-captives. 


CHAPTER  II 

CONVERSION 

1204.-1206 

Illness— The  Porta  Nuova— Walter  of  Brienne— The  Ex- 
pedition from  Assisi — Return— Penitence — The  Vision 
of  Poverty — Farewell  to  Friends — The  Poor — At  Rome 
— Heresies — San  Damiano — Renunciation. 

SOME  slight  demoralisation  had  taken  place  in 
his  nature.  Prison  fare  and  monotony  must 
have  been  not  only  distasteful,  but  positively  harm- 
ful to  his  health  and  mind,  and  the  close  companion- 
ship of  men  more  vicious  in  habits  and  conversation 
may  have  tainted  him  with  cynicism,  since  he  could 
scarcely  have  isolated  himself  from  his  comrades. 
We  find  him  plunging  more  recklessly  than  ever 
into  the  gaiety  from  which  he  and  they  had  fasted 
perforce  so  long.  And  it  may  be  that  this  excess 
hazarded  evil  as  well  as  fantastic  extravagance.  If 
we  accept  Celano's  first  biography,  we  are  bound  to 
believe  his  sinister  account.  But  we  shall  do  well 
to  remember  that  it  was  written  under  the  influence 
of  Brother  Elias,  who  seems  to  have  been  at  once 
artisan  and  schoolmaster  in  Assisi  during  this  time, 
not  included  in  the  doings  of  its  leisured  youth, 
(67) 


68  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

and  perhaps  disposed  to  account  their  conspicuous 
follies  as  altogether  evil.  And  even  if  his  ungentle 
disposition  did  not  wilfully  deepen  the  shadows,  he 
may  have  in  some  tortuous  manner  suggested  them 
as  a  contrast  to  the  life  which  was  to  follow,  so  as 
to  make  more  resplendent  the  change  from  spiritual 
death  to  life.  Francis,  weakened  physically  by 
captivity,  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  this  out- 
break of  dissipation,  and  fell  seriously  ill.  For 
weeks  he  lay  in  danger,  but  his  mother's  prayei-s 
and  nursing  helped  him  through  the  crisis,  and 
slowly  he  returned  to  a  measure  of  health.  In  the 
dark  house  below  the  main  piazza  he  lay  helpless 
through  the  first  months  of  1204,  until  the  days 
began  to  lengthen,  and  the  sun  rose  earlier  behind 
Foligno  and  sank  later  Ijehind  Perugia. 

We  know  nothing  detailed  of  this  illness,  but  are 
perhaps  justified  in  accounting  it  the  true  turning- 
point  of  his  life.  He  had  aspired  to  the  best  as 
he  understood  it.  He  had  touched  his  goal  and 
had  known  the  delights  of  the  life  that  now  is — 
a  dazzling  social  success,  the  stress  and  strain  of 
great  events,  the  joy  of  battle  with  his  peers.  But 
the  glamour  passed  at  the  touch  of  adversity.  He 
had  seen  the  gallant  bearing  of  his  friends  turn 
into  squalid  peevishness  ;  he  had  learnt  that  the 
brilliance  of  rank,  wealth  and  youth  faded  under 
the  sullen  cloud  of  failure.  It  was  a  semblance 
then  and  unreal.  The  e'lau  of  battle  was  not  forti- 
tude. There  were  apparent  virtues  which  could 
not  endure   the   shock   of  opposition.     They  were 


CONVERSION  69 

phantasms.  Some  such  despair  may  have  possessed 
him  as  he  slowly  rallied,  and  underlying  its  oppres- 
sion there  may  have  germinated  that  seed  whose 
increase  is  of  God. 

When  he  was  once  more  able  to  walk  he  took 
the  level  road  leading  to  Porta  Nuova,  least  difficult 
for  an  invalid,  and  went  to  where  the  gate  opens 
upon  the  grim  shoulders  of  Monte  Subasio,  upon 
the  high  Apennines  beyond  Foligno,  upon  the  lower 
range  on  whose  slopes  glitter  Trevi  and  Spoleto, 
and  upon  the  olive-yards  and  mulberries  descending 
to  the  plain,  all  perchance,  that  spring  afternoon, 
steeped  in  bluest  atmosphere.  He  tried  to  recover 
his  former  rapture  in  the  scene,  but  could  not. 
His  very  love  of  natural  beauty  had  lost  its  thrill. 
His  youth  had  been  wasted  on  shadows,  and  not 
even  nature  could  console  him.  Nor  did  there 
seem  for  the  moment  any  other  source  of  consola- 
tion. For,  though  the  hand  of  God  was  upon  him, 
he  knew  it  not.  The  Divine  processes  are  slow,  and 
most  of  us  scarcely  attain  to  be  unweaned  babes  in 
the  spiritual  life. 

Francis  turned  sick  at  heart  from  the  dregs  of 
the  emptied  cup,  finding  them  bitter  to  his  taste, 
but  to  drink  the  living  water  was  not  yet  in  all  his 
thoughts.  Religion  was  a  duty,  doubtless,  but  not 
yet  the  breath  of  his  being.  There  were,  however, 
possibilities  in  which  he  might  recover  his  old  joie 
de  vivre,  and  these,  in  the  opinion  of  that  age,  were 
hallowed  by  the  sanction  and  example  of  the  Curia. 

Restored  to  health,  he  resumed  his  rich  vestments 


70  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

and  his  habit  of  riding  out  of  the  city  to  the  plain. 
One  evening  he  found  at  the  wayside  an  old  ac- 
quaintance reduced  to  beggary.  He  dismounted 
and  clothed  him  in  his  own  rich  mantle,  providing 
for  his  immediate  wants.  It  seems  to  have  been 
from  this  man  that  he  learned  of  the  victories 
gained  in  Puglia  by  Walter  de  Brienne,  who  was 
fighting  for  the  restoration  of  the  papal  fiefs  in  the 
south  of  Italy,  favoured  by  Innocent  III.'s  benedic- 
tion. The  Pope's  champion  was  a  hero  in  the  eyes 
of  all  Guelfs,  for  he  had  overcome  the  German  army 
twice  against  great  odds,  and  he  was  regarded  as 
a  leader  specially  protected  by  God.  Francis  was 
easily  induced  to  accompany  the  poor  knight  whom 
he  had  befriended,  and  who  intended  to  seek  service 
under  Count  Walter.  So  he  was  occupied  in  fitting 
out  his  friend  and  himself  with  the  arms  and  trap- 
pings necessary  for  their  expedition. 

Its  object  was  almost  a  crusade  ;  nothing  could 
have  been  more  attractive  to  a  mind  regaining  its 
health  without  recovering  its  content  with  his  daily 
conditions.  Filled  as  his  imagination  was  with  day- 
dreams of  glory  in  the  tented  field,  it  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  his  sleep  was  haunted  by  visions  of  arms  and 
banners.  Some  faith  in  his  destiny  he  had  always 
manifested  —  half  humourously,  no  doubt  —  but 
caught  from  his  popularity,  from  portents  and  pre- 
dictions, and  none  the  less  real  because  it  had  not 
spoilt  his  sweet  and  gracious  bearing.  But  in  the 
vision  recorded  by  his  biographers  there  is  an 
element  absent   from   mere   reflection  of  the  day's 


CONVERSION  71 

preoccupation.  Some  one  seemed  to  show  him  a 
many-storied  palace,  whose  arcaded  chambers  were 
filled  with  shields  and  arms  and  banners,  marked 
with  the  Cross  of  Christ,  and  when  he  asked  to 
whom  these  belonged,  his  guide  replied  :  "  They 
are  for  thee  and  for  thy  knights." 

Arms  they  were  for  Christ's  service,  which  he  did 
not  yet  understand,  but  towards  their  use  his  reason 
was  gradually  to  be  directed.  For  the  moment  he 
was  intoxicated  with  the  thought  that  he  was  de- 
signed by  God  to  be  a  great  leader  in  battle  for  the 
Church. 

Madonna  Pica's  heart  must  have  bled  to  see  him 
so  joyous  at  the  thought  of  leaving  home  for  the 
perils  of  war  once  more,  and  his  friends  rallied  him 
on  his  spirits  and  ridiculed  his  confident  assertion : 
"  I  know  tliat  I  shall  become  a  great  prince."  Still, 
some  of  them  agreed  to  go  with  him  and  to  follow 
the  Assisan  comit,  who  proposed  to  mend  his  ruined 
fortunes  by  the  venture. 

Francis  was  appointed  his  page.  The  party 
started  one  morning  for  Spoleto  by  the  road  which 
wound  round  Monte  Subasio,  passing  below  the 
Benedictine  monastery  and  the  Castle  of  Sasso  Rosso, 
both  on  the  flanks  of  the  grey  old  mountain.  At 
Spoleto  the  first  halt  was  called.  But  excitement, 
fatigue,  and  perhaps  some  return  of  fever,  shattered 
Francis,  and  he  was  left  behind  next  morning  with 
half  insulting  raillery  on  the  part  of  the  others. 
Another  dream  had  signalised  that  night  for  ever. 
"  Francis,"  called  the  voice  of  God,  "  who  can  make 


72  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

thee  the  better  knight,  the  Master  or  tlie  servant,  the 
rich  man  or  the  poor  ?  "  "  The  Master,"  said  Francis, 
"  not  the  servant,  the  rich  man,  not  the  poor." 

Then  said  the  voice  :  "  But  thou  leavest  the 
Master  for  the  servant  and  the  rich  man  for  the 
poor." 

And  Francis  said  :  ''  What  dost  Thou  will  that  I 
should  do,  O  my  Lord  ?  " 

And  the  Lord  said  :  "  Turn  thee  back  to  thy  own 
land,  for  the  vision  that  thou  didst  see  meant 
heavenly  and  not  earthly  equipment,  and  it  shall  be 
given  thee  by  God  and  not  by  man." 

Obedient  to  the  vision,  Francis  gave  up  all 
thought  of  rejoining  the  band  of  Assisan  soldiers, 
and  rode  slowly  home  that  day,  revolving  in  his 
mind  this  grace  vouchsafed  of  direction  in  the  path 
of  the  Spirit.  It  must  have  been  from  this  time 
that  he  felt  it  was  to  no  mundane  glory  he  was  being 
guided,  but  rather  to  the  glory  which  vanquishes 
the  world.  One  wonders  how  the  struggle  shaped 
itself,  how  keen  were  the  pangs  which  moved  him, 
as  one  fair  temporal  hope  after  another  took  on  the 
likeness  of  a  phantasm  and  trembled  into  nothing- 
ness at  the  potent  presence  of  these  unwonted  and 
unseen  realities.  One  wonders  how  his  spirit  stirred 
and  shook  as  their  amazing  intervention  became 
indubitable  ;  how  the  unequal  contest  agonised  and 
astounded  him  ;  how,  step  by  step,  the  spiritual 
gained  upon  the  temporal,  whilst  his  shrinking  flesh 
cried  aloud  in  the  suffering  of  death. 

Only  this   we  know  :  he  obeyed,  and,  in  obedi- 


CONVERSION  73 

ence  to  the  Will,  he  found  the  Way,  the  way  of  the 
Cross,  Christ  Jesus,  from  which  he  never  swerved. 
But  when  he  returned  to  Assisi,  this  stage  was  in- 
cipient, not  attained,  and  he  was  still  in  the  throes 
of  bewilderment  and  upheaval. 

His  parents  and  friends  were  astonished  at  his 
return  ;  his  father  was  indignant,  for  he  had  paid 
for  the  costly  accoutrements  on  which  Francis  in- 
sisted for  his  friend  as  well  as  himself,  and  the  least 
he  expected  was  loyalty  to  the  enterprise  and  some 
glory  for  his  son  on  which  to  plume  himself.  But 
here  he  was  back  again,  the  victim,  too,  of  a  new 
eccentricity  with  which  the  paternal  purse  had  to 
reckon,  but  which  in  no  way  gratified  the  paternal 
ambition.  For  Francis  was  now  possessed  by  a 
passionate  charity  towards  the  poor,  and  by  a  grow- 
ing distaste  for  the  society  of  the  rich,  so  that  his 
extravagances  brought  in  no  interest  of  distinction, 
and  were  doubtless  the  cause  of  increasing  displea- 
sure at  home,  where  his  brother  Angelus,  careful  in 
expenditure  and  keen  in  bargaining,  had  ingratiated 
himself  with  Bernardone. 

Charity  and  solitude — to  these  Francis  seemed 
vowed  already,  although  he  did  not  yet  realise  that 
charity  could  not  be  done  with  the  goods  of  another, 
but  must  be  purchased  with  self-sacrifice.  He  had 
no  experience  of  a  material  want  unsatisfied,  and 
he  could  not  yet  discern  the  difference  of  value  of 
the  satisfection  of  a  moral  want. 

In  the  meantime  he  sought  lonely  paths  and  re- 
treats, and   found  a  sheltering  cave  on  the  way  to 


74  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Beviglie,  a  mile  or  two  north-west  of  Assisi,  where 
he  could  spend  long  hours  of  penitent  prayer  and 
of  waiting  for  Ciod's  next  mandate.  For  a  constant 
penitence  began  to  characterise  his  mental  attitude 
towards  God.  We  are  told  that  a  man  of  Assisi 
was  much  with  him  in  those  days,  to  whom  perhaps 
he  owed  the  new  light  upon  those  gay  doings  of  his 
youth  which  he  now  deplored. 

There  is  just  a  possibility,  indeed  almost  a  proba- 
bility, that  this  friend  was  Bombarone,  afterwards 
Brother  Elias,  of  whom  we  last  heard  as  mattress- 
maker  and  schoolmaster.  Now,  all  the  indications 
brought  together  by  Dr.  Lempp,  in  his  recent 
Biographical  Study  of  Elias,  point  to  his  possession 
of  a  powerful,  persistent,  and  dominant  mind,  of  a 
character  made  austere  by  circumstances,  which  had 
encouraged  the  growth  of  bitterness  in  his  nature  ; 
and  we  can  well  imagine  his  impressing  upon  the 
sensitive  Francis  the  enormity  of  those  masques  and 
revels  of  which  he  had  been  the  soul  for  seven  or 
eight  years.  Constant  weeping,  constant  penitential 
prayer  altered  the  whole  mien  of  Bernardone's  once 
brilliant  son,  and  to  these  God  left  him  for  a  time. 
Too  gracious  to  turn  his  back  upon  the  old  com- 
rades, he  sought  indirectly  to  avoid  them.  But  he 
did  not  yet  abandon  all  his  old  habits  of  costly 
dress  and  knightly  manners,  of  riding  down  to  the 
plain,  where  forest  trees  clustered  more  thickly  than 
now,  and  where  his  horse  might  pace  under  the 
shadow  of  oaks  and  elms,  whilst  its  rider  was  lost  in 
self-accusing  thought. 


CONVERSION  75 

One  day  a  leper  accosted  him  as  he  rode  along 
one  of  the  ancient  ways,  now  Uttle  used,  except  as 
short  cuts  to  the  fields  and  olive-yards.  Tlie  man 
seemed  hardly  human  in  his  deformity,  and  for  a 
moment  Francis  shrank  from  so  gruesome  a  spec- 
tacle. But  recalling  Christ's  gentleness  to  lepers, 
and  his  own  contrition  for  that  leprosy  of  the  soul 
which  he  believed  himself  to  have  contracted,  in 
deep  humihty  he  dismounted  and  embraced  the 
mendicant,  kissing  the  disfigured  hand,  which  he 
filled  with  money.  And  then,  as  he  regained  his 
seat,  he  looked  round  for  the  leper,  who  had 
vanished,  perhaps  among  the  trees,  and  he  rode 
on  convinced  that  God  had  bidden  him  sacrifice 
for  ever  all  those  delicacies  of  feeling  and  habit 
which  hindered  his  perfect  obedience.  From  that 
day  he  was  aware  of  a  new  vision  Hitting  through 
his  vigils,  haunting  his  dreams — the  vision  of 
Poverty,  without  whose  constant  presence  he  could 
not  fulfil  the  complete  behest  of  God.  He  pondered 
over  this  vision  until  it  sank  into  his  very  soul. 
Poverty  had  been  the  bride  of  Christ  upon  earth, 
had  trod  the  dusty  ways  of  Galilee  at  His  side,  so 
that  never  had  He  turned  from  the  abject,  the  out- 
cast, the  diseased,  but  having  no  place  where  to  lay 
His  head,  He  had  given  healing  and  hope  to  the 
despised  and  rejected  of  men.  Nigh  twelve  cen- 
turies had  passed  since  the  Apostles  died  and  left 
Poverty  to  the  care  of  them  who  were  like-minded 
with  the  Master,  but  she  was  fallen  on  evil  times, 
for  Church   and   State  strove  for  wealthy  brides  and 


76  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

esteemed  nothing  so  little  as  Christ's  beloved.  To 
him,  ])ercluince,  she  was  bequeathed,  that  in  true 
union  with  her  he  might  go  and  come  as  God  di- 
rected him,  nothing  hindering  him,  since  the  sweet 
ministrations  of  that  bride  must  fortify  him  against 
all  needs,  must  preserve  him  unentangled  in  the 
cares  of  this  world. 

He  would  remember  the  story  of  Peter  Waldo, 
whom  the  Church  had  banned,  and  begin  to  think 
out  some  humble  way  in  which  one  might  be  an 
apostle  of  the  poverty  of  Christ  and  yet  be  in  the 
Church  and  serve  it.  Not  even  to  the  man  who 
sought  him  on  the  plain  did  he  tell  all  that  was  in 
his  heart,  for  his  aforetime  expansiveness  had  de- 
serted him  and  he  was  learning  that  there  is  only 
One  to  whom  all  things  can  be  told,  and  had  begun 
to  seek  that  mystic  communion  which  grants  the 
needed  sympathy  and  betrays  not  at  all.  Down  in 
his  retreat  near  Beviglie  he  spent  long  hours  in 
prayer,  in  cries  for  guidance,  for  a  Divine  commis- 
sion. 

His  friends  were  puzzled  at  his  altered  mien  and 
habits  ;  they  thought  him  scarcely  recovered  from 
fever ;  they  could  not  suppose  themselves  to  be 
no  longer  sought  as  his  companions.  One  day, 
however,  he  invited  them  all  to  a  banquet,  and 
they  rejoiced  to  think  that  his  gaiety  was  restored, 
and  that  once  more  he  would  be  the  lavish  king 
of  their  revels.  They  sat  long  at  the  table  that 
night,  while  he  ministered  with  all  his  old  grace 
and  hospitality — then,  rising  with  songs,  and  shout- 


CONVERSION  77 

ing,  they  surged  out  into  the  piazza  to  fill  it  with 
their  festal  clamour.  But  Francis  was  no  longer 
with  them,  and  when  they  turned  back  to  claim  his 
company  they  found  him  standing  lost  in  reverie, 
his  spirit  far  from  them.  "Ah!"  they  cried,  "he 
thinks  of  some  fair  lady,  who  has  rapt  away  his 
heart ;    wilt  thou  marry,  Francis  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  a  look  in  his  dark  eyes 
which  no  man  had  seen  illumine  them  before,  "  I 
think  of  a  spouse  lovelier,  richer,  purer  than  you 
can  possibly  imagine." 

It  was  his  leave-taking.  Doubtless  they  thought 
him  mad,  for  they  troubled  him  no  more.  They 
fell  from  him  by  the  inevitable  law  which  groups 
the  spirits  of  men  into  those  who  seek  the  temporal 
and  those  whose  eyes  begin  to  apprehend  the 
eternal.  They  knew  well  that  it  was  of  no  earthly 
spouse  lie  spoke,  and  they  had  no  mind  to  follow 
him  into  the  heavenly  places. 

But  the  moment  for  his  unity  with  poverty  had 
not  yet  been  indicated,  and  he  spent  days  upon  his 
knees  in  solitary  places. 

If  the  friends  of  his  thoughtless  years  were  gone, 
there  remained  to  him  such  friends  as  Jesus  had — 
the  blind,  the  lame,  the  leper,  the  poor.  More  and 
more  he  spent  his  time,  his  money,  his  affection 
upon  them,  and  was  astonished  at  their  gratitude, 
for  they  counted  him  as  little  less  than  an  angel, 
and  that  they  treated  him  so  proves  what  no  words 
can  represent — that  personal  charm  which,  even  to 
these  hardened  outcasts,  prevailed  over  the  fact  of 


78  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

his  generosity  and  meant  for  them  far  more  than  his 
giving  what  they  demanded.  From  the  cave,  from 
the  Portiuncula,  that  Httle  chapel  amongst  the 
trees,  from  San  Damiano,  higher  up  the  slope,  but 
on  the  city  verge  and  not  within  its  walls — he  went 
amongst  them,  his  eyes  shining  with  the  light  of 
prayer,  his  voice  thrilling  with  the  joy  of  doing 
the  very  work  Christ  chose  to  do,  and  they  knew 
that  he  was  not  as  other  men  who  flung  them 
careless  alms.  For  God  gave  him  daily  freshness 
of  love  for  the  friends  of  Christ. 

We  do  not  know  how  far  he  received  guidance 
from  the  Church  at  this  time.  His  confessor  is 
not  so  much  as  mentioned,  nor  do  we  hear  of  his 
seeking  the  Duomo  or  even  San  Giorgio  for  de- 
votional purposes.  Many  churches  Assisi  has  always 
possessed,  and  of  those  within  whose  walls  her 
people  still  kneel  when  the  Host  is  raised,  still  make 
meek  confession  and  receive  assurance  of  God's 
pardon,  there  are  some  where  he  too  must  have 
adored,  whose  ancient  bells  he  must  have  known 
when  they  rang  out  their  call  to  worship.  Such 
are  the  Duomo,  San  Giorgio — included  now  in 
Santa  Chiara — San  Pietro,  San  Paolo,  San  Damiano, 
San  Nicola,  San  Giacomo,  and  in  the  belfries  of 
Santa  Maria  Maggiore  and  San  Stefano  swing  to 
this  very  day  bells  to  which  he  must  have  listened. 

But  it  is  of  humble  shrines  and  impoverished 
churches  that  we  hear  as  his  favourite  resorts,  and 
of  no  priest  at  all  for  the  present,  only  of  the 
unknown   man,   who    may  have   been    Bombarone. 


CONVERSION  79 

How  lonely  he  must  have  been — unwelcome  at 
home,  except  to  his  sorrowing  mother,  who  was 
not  wholly  unconsoled.  Bernardone's  anger  against 
him  waxed  as  the  summer  waned,  taking  on  a  note 
of  fierce  contempt  for  the  madness  which  had  be- 
fallen him. 

We  do  not  know  by  whose  persuasion  he  went  to 
Rome,  whether  Madonna  Pica  sent  him  thither  for 
the  counsel  refused  at  Assisi,  but  he  rode  to  Rome 
in  the  autumn  of  1205,  doubtless  after  his  father 
had  set  out  for  the  north  and  west.  There  his 
objective  was  St.  Peter's,  at  whose  tomb  he  pro- 
strated himself,  emptying  his  purse  upon  its  altar. 
As  he  left  the  basilica  he  found,  crouched  upon  its 
steps,  a  host  of  beggars.  Surely  in  that  prayer  at 
the  tomb  he  had  vowed  himself  to  their  service,  had 
betrothed  himself  for  ever  to  the  Lady  of  his  vision 
— for  he  asked  one  of  them  to  change  tunics  with 
him,  and,  like  a  knight  before  his  initiation,  he 
passed  a  vigil,  lasting  all  that  day,  down  upon  the 
steps,  begging  from  the  passers-by,  tasting  the  bitter- 
sweet cup  of  renunciation.  It  was  both  his  vigil  and 
his  sacring,  and  from  that  day  he  was  the  knight  of 
poverty,  the  champion  of  the  unchampioned,  the 
hero  of  a  tourney  whose  umpire  is  Christ  Jesus, 
whose  prize  is  life  everlasting. 

On  his  return  he  occupied  himself  wholly  with 
the  poor,  and  especially  with  those  whom  leprosy 
had  banished  from  the  city  and  the  villages,  and 
who  were  herded  together  in  squalid  communities 
here  and  there  upon  the  plain.      Perhaps  it  is  true 


80  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

that  he  appealed  to  the  Bishop  of  Assisi  to  give 
him  some  light,  even  some  authorisation  in  minis- 
tering to  those  outcasts,  but  probably  the  bishop 
saw  in  Francis  one  led  astray  by  heretical  teaching 
and  refused  to  assist  him  in  his  work  amongst  the 
lepers.  For  strange  missionaries  were  going  to 
and  fro,  sent  out  of  Viterbo,  and  there  is  a  record 
of  a  voice  lifted  up  in  Assisi  calling  men  to  a 
mysterious  peace.  It  is  certain  that  Francis  was 
more  and  more  left  to  himself,  and  that  he  had 
no  help  except  the  growing  assurance  that  what 
he  did  was  well-pleasing  to  God. 

The  Church  was  indeed  sick  nigh  unto  death, 
distracted  by  war  without,  exhausted  by  defection, 
betrayed  by  internal  corruption,  while  no  period 
of  its  existence  was  ever  more  signalised  by  papal 
pretensions  and  spiritual  impotence. 

One  day  Francis  went  down  the  rough  path, 
which  leads  to  the  small  sanctuary  of  San  Damiano, 
hidden  then  more  effectually  than  now  by  a  thicket 
and  falling  to  pieces  from  neglect  and  the  poverty 
of  its  worshippers.  As  he  passed  through  the 
olives,  whose  size  and  beauty  are  greater  on  this 
slope  than  lower  down,  and  felt  the  sweet  in- 
fluences of  these  visionary  trees — whose  shadow 
on  the  ground  is  as  the  shadow  of  a  shadow, 
whose  silvery  foliage  gleams  and  glooms  in  quick 
response  to  sun  and  cloud  ;  who  seem  to  sigh  and 
smile  with  sorrows  and  raptures  of  their  own,  as  if 
they  were  acquainted  with  unseen  woes  and  wel- 
comed   celestial    visitants — he    may    have    almost 


THIC    CKUCIFIX    Ol-    SA.N    UU.MINICO 


CONVERSION  81 

looked  for  an  angel  amongst  them,  for  some  radi- 
ance with  a  message  to  guide  him.  Certain  it  is 
that,  with  mind  remoter  from  the  world  than  com- 
mon, he  kneeled  to  pray  at  the  foot  of  a  painted 
crucifix,  old  even  then  and  beautiful  to-day,  where 
it  hangs  in  San  Giorgio,  as  it  was  to  him.  "  Send 
Thy  light  into  my  darkness,"  he  implored ;  "  O 
Christ,  my  Lord,  let  me  know  Thy  holy  will." 
And  in  the  silence  he  saw  the  figure  of  the 
Crucified  quicken  into  life,  and  lo  !  Christ  spake 
to  him :  "  Francis,  go  and  restore  My  falling 
Church." 

Then  he  knew  that  his  cry  had  been  answered, 
that  he  was  God's  accepted  servant,  commissioned 
to  do  a  mighty  work. 

He  did  not  yet  realise  the  wreck  within  the 
Chm'ch,  whose  imposing  structure  blinded  men  to 
its  real  condition,  nor  was  he  fully  aware  that  faith 
was  an  outcast  from  its  palaces,  whence  poverty 
had  long  been  driven,  and  that  patience,  chastity 
and  hope  had  followed  them  into  the  wilderness. 

So,  eager  to  obey,  and  that  at  once,  he  looked 
about  him  at  the  crumbling  sanctuary,  and  remem- 
bered how  San  Pietro  was  time-worn  and  no  longer 
proof  against  the  weather,  and  how  the  chapel  be- 
loved of  his  mother,  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  was 
falling  into  ruin.  This,  he  reasoned,  must  be  his 
work — to  repair  God's  sanctuaries  and  to  make 
them  fit  for  His  presence.  His  purse  was  nearly 
empty.  Pier  Bernardone  was  at  home  and  did  not 
care  to  supply  him  with  money,  sure  to  be  squan- 


82  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

dered  on  the  lepers.  So  he  gave  the  priest  of  San 
Damiano  all  that  remained  to  him.  He  was  used 
to  take  what  costly  stuffs  he  needed  for  his  cloth- 
ing. It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  was  not 
entitled  to  them  for  a  purpose  infinitely  more 
sacred  and  more  pressing.  Bernardone  was  not 
in  his  shop  at  the  south-east  corner  of  the 
piazza^  so  he  took  some  pieces  of  the  finest  cloths 
and  silks,  made  them  into  a  parcel,  mounted  his 
horse  and  rode  to  Foligno,  ten  miles  away.  There 
he  sold  both  merchandise  and  horse  and  came 
back  to  San  Damiano  on  foot,  intent  on  taking  up 
his  abode  with  its  priest  and  on  providing  for  its 
repair.  The  priest,  however,  knew  Bernardone's 
character,  and,  although  he  willingly  allowed 
Francis  to  stay,  he  refused  to  take  the  money. 
With  some  movement  of  petulance  Francis  flung 
the  rejected  coins  out  of  the  window,  since  they 
were  not  deemed  worthy  of  acceptance.  Bernar- 
done missed  the  stuffs  and  heard  the  story  of  their 
disappearance.  He  waited  in  vain  for  his  son's 
return,  and  as  the  evening  darkened  into  night  he 
realised  that  Francis  had  left  his  home.  A  search 
for  the  fugitive  began,  and  soon  Bernardone  knew 
that  he  was  at  San  Damiano.  With  a  crowd  of 
followers  he  hurried  down  the  slope  to  drag  him 
home.  But  Francis  heard  the  clamour  as  it  neared 
and  fled  to  some  concealment  prepared  for  this 
emergency.  For  days  he  hid  from  his  father's  rage, 
scarcely  knowing  what  to  do,  until  the  resolution 
came  to   him   to  go  back,  declare  his  firm  deter- 


CONVERSION  83 

mination  to  obey  Christ's  call,  to  give  up  his  life 
at  home  and  to  consecrate  himself  to  the  work  of 
repairing  the  neglected  sanctuaries. 

As  he  climbed  to  the  piazza,  pale  with  sleepless- 
ness and  fasting,  a  crowd  of  children  followed  him, 
shouting  in  mockery  :  "  The  madman  !  the  mad- 
man !  "  hurling;  stones  at  him  in  savage  delirium, 
covering  him  with  mud,  mimicking  his  gestures 
and  his  words  of  entreaty.  Bernardone  came  to 
the  door  of  his  house,  drawn  by  their  tumult,  to 
find  his  son  its  centre,  a  pitiable  object,  bruised, 
bleeding  and  in  rags,  while  his  tormentors  howled 
with  delight.  The  furious  merchant  seized  Francis 
by  the  throat,  drew  him  out  of  the  street  and  flung 
him  into  a  cellar  in  the  staircase.  To  what  public 
disgrace  had  the  reprobate  brought  his  wealthy  and 
respectable  father  ?  Either  he  was  mad  indeed,  or 
so  perverted  that  imprisonment  in  the  dark  was  the 
only  treatment  likely  to  bring  him  to  his  senses. 
But  the  treatment  failed,  for  neither  abuse  nor 
blows  served  to  change  his  mind.  He  was  re- 
solved to  leave  father  and  mother,  to  take  up  his 
cross  and  to  follow  Christ.  His  cross  was  already 
well  bound  to  his  shoulders,  and  its  weight  was 
rapture  as  he  realised  that  just  such  sorrows  were 
the  very  signs  of  his  acceptance.  At  last  Bernar- 
done left  him  alone,  but  locked  the  door  upon 
him.  Three  days  later  he  quitted  Assisi  on  busi- 
ness, and  Madonna  Pica  went  to  her  son  with 
gentle  entreaties  for  his  return  to  filial  duty.  But 
he  was  pledged  to  God,  and  the  old  life  seemed  to 


84.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

him  no  more  thnn  dust  in  the  balance  compared  to 
the  new.  His  mother  let  him  out  of  the  cellar, 
and  he  went  straight  to  San  Damiano.  There  he 
braced  himself  by  prayer  for  the  coming  struggle. 
His  father  returned,  and  it  is  said  that  he  struck 
his  wife  a  cowardly  blow  when  she  confessed  her 
share  in  their  son's  escape.  Then,  in  an  excess  of 
rage,  he  hurried  to  San  Damiano  bent  in  forcing 
Francis  to  leave  Assisi.  But  prayer  and  guidance 
had  fortified  the  latter,  and  he  met  his  father  out- 
side the  sanctuary  with  calm  and  happy  face  :  "  Do 
not  think,"  he  said,  "that  anything  in  the  world 
can  turn  me  from  the  love  of  Christ,  for  whose  sake 
I  gladly  suffer  all  things." 

Bernardone  angrily  demanded  the  money  paid  for 
his  stuffs,  and  Francis  showed  him  where  it  lay  be- 
neath a  grating.  Picking  up  the  coins,  and  consoled 
by  their  touch,  he  sought  to  tempt  his  son  by  pro- 
mises of  wealth  and  indulgence  to  return  with  him. 
But  Francis  said  :  "  I  desire  no  other  wealth  than 
the  poverty  of  Christ."  "Then  that  thou  shalt 
have,"  cried  Bernardone  ;  "  come  with  me  before 
the  bishop  and  renounce  all  right  to  thy  mother's 
dowry,  all  claim  to  what  I  might  have  given  thee." 

With  joy  Francis  followed  him  to  the  bishop's 
palace  in  the  little  piazza  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore. 
Guido  was  then  Bishop  of  Assisi,  second  of  his 
name,  a  wise,  learned  and  impulsive  man.  The 
angry  father  came  before  him,  followed  by  Francis, 
who  was  radiant  with  the  joy  of  suffering  for  Christ's 
sake,     A  crowd  of  citizens  pressed  round  them  to 


THE   REXUNXIATION 
From  Giotto' s  fresco  in  the  Upper  Church  at  Assist 


CONVERSION  85 

hear  the  matter,  but,  before  it  could  be  judicially 
discussed,  Francis  went  into  a  room,  stripped  him- 
self of  all  he  wore  and  returned  wilh  a  bundle  of 
his  garments,  which  he  handed  to  his  father,  saying  : 
"Now  have  I  no  father  for  ever,  but  our  Father 
who  is  in  Heaven."  The  bishop,  moved  to  tears, 
embraced  him  and  covered  hiin  with  his  own 
mantle  until  a  servant  brought  a  coarse  tunic  in 
which  to  clothe  him.  And  then  the  people,  seeing 
the  bishop's  care  for  him  and  his  own  happiness, 
and  knowing  well  the  greedy,  ambitious  and  iras- 
cible nature  of  Bernardone,  were  smitten  with 
wondering  admiration  for  the  grace  which  God 
had  done  in  their  midst,  calling  from  amongst  them 
and  setting  His  seal  upon  the  spoilt  darling  of  their 
city,  the  gay  comrade,  cavalier  and  soldier,  whose 
career  was  as  familiar  to  them  as  their  own  from 
his  birth  till  that  day  in  the  winter  of  1'206. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  BROTHERS  MINOR 

1206—1210 

The  Benedictine  Convent — Gubbio — Cesena — San  Damiano 
again— Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli — Francis  Begins  to 
Preach — His  First  Followers  —  The  First  Mission— A 
Crisis  —  The  Second  Mission  —  Pope  Innocent  III,  and 
the  Order. 

FRANCIS  had  given  up  father  and  mother  and 
wealth  for  Christ's  sake.  We  can  only  sur- 
mise M'hat  that  meant  to  his  tender  heart ;  but  the 
sacrifice  was  complete  ;  he  was  now  Christ's  alone, 
and  the  joy  of  that  transfer  filled  his  mouth  with 
praise. 

He  left  Assisi,  perhaps  in  obedience  to  some 
word  of  counsel  from  Bishop  Guido,  which  he  under- 
stood to  be  Divine  direction.  He  took  a  rough  path 
on  the  flanks  of  Monte  Subasio,  through  the  woods, 
which  darkened  as  the  March  afternoon  closed. 
Snow  lay  on  the  mountain  and  drifted  into  the 
wood  ;  his  feet  were  bare  and  only  a  coarse  garment 
covered  him  ;  but  he  was  singing  with  all  his  might, 
for  on  the  breast  of  his  tunic  he  had  drawn  a  cross 
in  chalk,  the  badge  of  a  Master  whose  service  is 
(86) 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  87 

perfect  freedom  from  earthly  care.  As  he  climbed 
and  sang,  his  voice  reached  the  ears  of  a  band  of 
robber-outcasts  who  lurked  in  the  wood.  They 
came  down  upon  him  and  roughly  asked  him  who 
he  was.  ''I  am  a  herald  of  the  Great  King/'  said 
he,  "and  nothing  more  that  can  concern  you." 
They  shouted  with  laughter,  dealt  him  blow  after 
blow  and,  stripping  off  his  garment,  flung  him  into 
a  snowdrift,  crying  as  they  left:  "There,  that's 
the  place  for  the  herald  of  God." 

When  they  had  gone,  Francis  rose  and  went  on 
his  way,  singing  as  loudly  as  ever,  although  chilled 
to  the  bone  and  almost  naked.  Further  east,  and 
still  higher  up  the  slope  of  Monte  Subasio,  stood 
the  Benedictine  monastery  built  nearly  two  centuries 
earlier.  To  its  gate  he  bent  his  steps  in  the  dark- 
ness. But  when  a  lay  brother  opened  and  heard 
his  petition  for  food  and  shelter,  he  was  not  greatly 
attracted  by  the  shivering,  beaten  and  unclad 
beggar  before  him.  The  monks  sent  him  to  their 
kitchen,  gave  him  a  dry  crust  of  bread  and  a  ragged 
shirt,  and  set  him  to  earn  these  bounties  by  acting 
as  scullion  to  their  cook.  But  he  felt  their  suspicion 
of  his  veracity  and  suffered  from  their  meanness, 
which  went  to  the  verge  of  starving  him.  So  after 
a  few  days  he  left  them  and  made  his  way  to 
Gubbio,  where  he  stayed  a  short  time  with  a  friend 
called  Spadalunga,  who  cared  for  his  necessities. 
It  is  on  the  site  of  this  friend's  house  and  garden 
that  the  beautiful  church  of  San  Francesco,  at 
Gubbio,  stands.      He  used  his  absence  from   Assisi 


88  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

in  seeking  advice  and  experience,  but  we  do  not 
know  exactly  how  long  the  interval  lasted,  nor 
where  he  spent  its  greater  part.  When  he  left 
Gubbio,  it  is  probable  that  he  sought  counsel  from 
the  holier  hermits  in  its  neighbourhood.  There 
existed  for  a  century  after  his  life  a  common  report 
amongst  the  peasants  of  Romagna  that  he  dwelt 
for  more  than  a  year  in  a  hermitage  near  Cesena. 
This  spot  lay  in  the  shelter  of  a  thick  wood,  cover- 
ing an  ascending  valley,  which  separates  the  slopes 
of  two  hills.  Both  wood  and  hermitage  have  been 
swept  away  to  make  room  for  vines  and  corn,  but 
Signor  Finali,  who  has  described  the  place  for  us, 
often  passed  in  his  boyhood  under  the  shady  oaks 
to  the  cell,  of  which  no  vestige  now  remains,  except 
a  ruined  fountain  surmounted  by  a  rude  figure  in 
terracotta.  Here,  in  the  time  of  Francis,  lived  a 
holy  hermit,  a  Mantuan  by  birth,  Giovanni  Bono. 
He  was  one  of  those  who  practised  the  Rule  of  St. 
Augustine,  so-called,  a  gospel  Rule,  which  prescribed 
poverty,  prayer  and  charity.  His  dress  was  a  tunic 
of  the  common  grey  cloth  worn  by  the  peasants. 
The  hermits  of  this  order,  as  well  as  the  Dominicans, 
maintained,  somewhat  to  the  annoyance  of  the 
Franciscans,  that  St.  Francis  wore  the  grey  habit 
and  professed  the  hermit's  Rule  for  some  time 
before  returning  to  Assisi.  If  their  contention  is 
true,  he  must  have  acquired  the  first  principles  of 
his  own  Rule  from  the  good  and  much  venerated 
Giovanni  Bono,  whom  the  peasants  loved  because 
of  his    ministrations   amongst    them,   and   because 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  89 

when  food  was  brought  to  him,  he  shared  it  with 
those  who  had  none.  But  whatever  probability 
there  is  in  the  tradition,  Francis  needed  no  di- 
rection but  Christ's  in  all  that  pertained  to  such 
ministration,  for  he  had  already  surpassed  the 
hermit's  care  for  the  poor  in  his  work  amongst 
the  lepers  outside  Assisi.  Wherever  he  may  have 
been,  he  recovered  strength,  serenity,  the  full  use 
of  his  great  faculties,  mental,  practical  and  spiritual. 
When  he  returned  to  Assisi  he  was  joyous,  alert, 
decided,  sure  of  what  God  meant  him  to  do,  pre- 
pared to  be  led  step  by  step  into  spiritual  service 
— that  service  of  which  the  Church  and  the  world 
stood  in  such  desperate  need. 

His  first  visit  was  to  the  leper  settlement  near 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  where  still  the  two  field 
chapels  of  Santa  Maria  Maddalena  and  San  Rufino 
d'Arce — in  old  times  known  as  San  Lazzaro — 
mark  the  shrines  where  these  poor  outcasts  of  both 
sexes  knelt  for  worship.  They  received  him  with 
joy,  and  he  returned  to  San  Damiano  prepared  to 
take  up  the  work  which  he  had  temporarily 
quitted,  no  longer  as  the  young  and  wealthy  citizen 
of  Assisi,  but  as  the  spouse  of  poverty,  clad  in  a 
grey  habit,  begging  for  othei-s.  The  poor  priest 
with  whom  he  lived  soon  loved  him  as  a  son,  and 
would  cook  little  delicacies  for  him  at  meal  times, 
until  Francis  entreated  him  not  to  spend  money 
upon  such  things,  since  bread  and  water  were 
sufiicient. 

He   was   bent  on   restoring    the   three   churches 


90  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

fallen  into  disrepair,  and  set  about  collecting  stones 
from  the  citizens,  for  which  he  paid  by  singing  like 
a  wandering  minstrel.  Some  of  these  still  main- 
tained that  he  was  mad,  and  his  sorest  trial  was 
meeting  Bernardone,  who  never  failed  to  curse  him. 
But  he  allowed  nothing  to  discourage  him  in  col- 
lecting stones  and  mortar,  which  he  carried  on  his 
back  to  San  Damiano.  At  other  times  he  asked 
food  and  alms  for  his  sick  and  poor,  and  what  little 
was  necessary  for  himself,  so  that  he  might  not 
bring  expense  upon  his  friend,  the  poor  priest,  and 
when,  in  going  his  rounds,  he  met  his  old  com- 
panions, or  was  aware  of  them  assembled  at  some 
banquet,  he  would  overcome  his  shyness  and  go 
to  them  to  seek  a  gift  in  the  name  of  Jesus  whom 
he  served.  He  chose  a  poor  townsman  to  go  about 
with  him,  so  that  when  he  flinched  from  his  father's 
curses,  the  man  might  bless  him  and  restore  his 
spirit. 

His  brother  Angelo  made  a  mock  of  him  when- 
ever they  met.  Once  this  happened  in  a  church  on 
a  cold  day  of  winter.  Francis  was  shivering  in  his 
grey  tunic,  while  the  other  was  warmly  wrapped  in 
fur-lined  mantle  over  a  long  robe  of  cloth.  "  Go  to 
Francis,"  said  Angelo  to  a  friend,  ''and  buy  a 
ha'porth  of  his  sweat."  '' No,"  said  Francis,  "it 
is  of  greater  value  to  God." 

What  Madonna  Pica  thought,  if  she  still  lived, 
we  know  not.  Doubtless  she  said  nothing,  but 
pondered  all  these  things  in  her  heart,  like  the 
blessed  mother  of  our  Lord,  tliat  woman  of  perfect 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  91 

dignity  and   of  perfect  wisdom,  a  miracle  amongst 
women. 

It  was  at  first  very  hard  for  him  to  overcome  his 
repugnance  to  the  scraps  and  leavings  of  food  which 
he  brought  home,  and  he  had  to  put  his  fastidious- 
ness under  the  control  of  his  spirit.  So  he  called 
his  meals  the  "table  of  the  Lord,"  and  ate  what 
was  before  him  with  words  of  praise.  He  had  con- 
quered, one  by  one,  his  love  of  company,  of  fine 
clothes,  of  rank  and  wealth  ;  his  aversion  to  squalor, 
disease  and  misery  ;  his  daintiness  in  food  and  sur- 
roundings. All  were  laid  upon  the  altar  of  obedience, 
and  for  all  God  gave  him  a  thousand-fold  of  their 
anti-types  in  the  spiritual  life— for  parents  and 
friends.  His  own  continual  presence  ;  for  rank,  son- 
ship  of  the  King  of  kings  ;  for  garments,  the  robe  of 
righteousness  ;  for  wealth,  **  all  things  "  ;  for  per- 
sonal fastidiousness,  a  purity,  tenderness  and  joy 
which  lifted  him  above  the  annoyances  of  daily  ex- 
perience. 

The  weapons  marked  with  the  cross  were  gaining 
him  the  victory.  His  vision  was  in  course  of  fulfil- 
ment. 

For  some  time  he  laboured  at  his  double  charge 
of  repairing  the  churches  and  of  tending  the  lepers. 
There  was  another  settlement  of  these  besides  the 
rough  lazar-houses  near  the  Portiuncula.  This  was 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  San  Damiano,  some 
seven  miles  westwards,  at  Collistrada,  where  cy- 
presses mark  a  burial  ground  on  a  hill  to  the  left  of 
the  road  going  to  Perugia,  while  a  cluster  of  stone 


92  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

pines,  rare  in  Umbria,  attracts  our  eyes  on  the 
other  side  of  a  group  of  buildings,  one  of  which 
may  have  been  the  hospital.  Hither  he  bent  his 
steps  from  time  to  time,  carrying  food  and  alms  for 
its  wretched  inmates,  and  here,  too,  he  was  known 
and  loved. 

His  labours  at  San  Pietro  and  San  Damiano  came 
to  an  end,  and  he  began  to  restore  the  little  church 
of  the  Portiuncula.  Day  after  day  he  toiled  down 
from  the  quarries  with  his  burden  of  stones  and 
mortar,  and  fitted  them  into  the  breaches  made  by 
storms  and  time  and  rough  usage.  As  the  winter 
of  1208  passed  he  completed  his  undertaking,  and 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  was  not  only  weather- 
proof, but  swept  and  cleansed  with  that  delicate 
care  which  he  practised,  and  later  enjoined,  regard- 
ing all  things  used  for  the  service  of  God. 

He  grew  more  and  more  attached  to  this  humble 
sanctuary,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in  prayer 
and  meditation  within  its  walls.  Some  features  of 
the  hermit  life  characterised  this  period.  So  many 
hours  of  work,  so  many  hours  of  tending  the  lepers, 
so  many  hours  of  solitude,  prayer  and  contempla- 
tion, with  tears  of  penitence,  of  praise  and  of 
patient  waiting  upon  God's  further  will. 

Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  belonged  to  the  Bene- 
dictines on  Monte  Sul)asio,  and  one  of  them  came 
to  say  an  occasional  mass  at  its  altar.  One  day  in 
February,  1^209,  mass  was  being  celebrated  there. 
Francis  was  the  sole  worshipper,  and  the  monk 
turned  towards  him  as  he   read    the  gospel  for  the 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  93 

day  from  St.  Matthew  :  "  As  ye  go,  preach,  saying, 
The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand.  Heal  the  sick, 
cleanse  the  lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils  ; 
freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give.  Provide 
neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses, 
nor  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither 
shoes,  nor  yet  staves  ;  for  the  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  meat." 

He  listened  with  wonder;  it  was  an  endorse- 
ment of  the  rule  of  poverty,  but  it  seemed  to 
include  more  than  that.  It  meant  not  the  repose 
of  the  hermit's  life,  not  the  mere  working  out  of 
his  own  salvation.  As  he  went  on  his  way  he  must 
preach  and  say  :  "  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at 
hand."  It  was  the  new  direction  from  above,  and 
the  voice  was  the  voice  of  Christ.  Again  he  was 
ready  to  obey.  Not  in  vain  had  he  called  himself 
the  herald  of  God.  On  the  very  next  day  he  went 
up  to  Assisi  and  began  to  preach.  He  had  divested 
himself  of  all  forbidden  in  the  gospel,  and  with  bare 
feet,  and  a  rope  tied  round  his  grey  tunic  instead  of 
a  belt,  he  entered  the  church  of  San  Giorgio,  salut- 
ing all  whom  he  found  there  with  the  words  :  "  My 
brothers,  God  give  you  peace."  And  then  in 
simple  language  he  proclaimed  the  coming  of 
Christ  and  called  on  all  to  repent.  He  used  no 
rhetoric,  no  eloquence  ;  but  every  word  uttered 
came  like  a  flame  of  pure  light  from  that  illu- 
mined spirit,  and  the  listeners  knew  that  for  him 
all  things  were  nought  save  only  Christ,  and  Him 
crucified.     A  change  of  feeling  towards  Francis  had 


94  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

been  at  work  durinir  the  years  after  his  renuncia- 
tion, especially  inHiienced  by  his  labour  amongst 
the  lepers  and  at  the  ruined  churches.  Men  were 
ceasing  to  think  him  mad  antl  had  begun  to  realise 
that  he  was  God-inspired.  They  listened  to  him 
now  as  to  one  of  the  Divine  oracles,  so  that  he 
never  lacked  a  congregation  when  he  entered  one 
of  the  many  churches  of  Assisi  with  his  greeting  of 
God's  peace. 

Peace  was  much  needed  in  the  city,  where  inter- 
nal dissensions  j)revailed.  The  Assisaiis  had  been 
slow  to  satisfy  the  conditions  concluded  with  Peru- 
gia ;  many  of  the  exiled  counts  were  still  living 
there  awaiting  the  restoration  of  their  castles,  and 
discussion  was  hot  as  to  their  return.  We  have 
reason  to  believe  that  from  the  time  of  his  preach- 
ing Francis  was  consulted  by  the  commune  on  these 
matters,  and  gave  advice  always  on  the  side  of 
righteous  fulfilment  of  obligations,  the  events 
which  followed  being  marked  by  a  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility to  God  very  unusual  in  the  settlement 
of  altercations  at  that  time.  That  their  outcome 
was  both  peaceable  and  orderly  we  shall  find  three 
years  later,  when  mutual  concessions  were  made 
both  by  nobles  and  people. 

At  this  time  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore 
was  restored,  and  engraved  on  the  outer  wall  of  its 
apse  are  the  words  :  '^'  In  the  time  of  Bishop  Guido 
and  of  Brother  Francis" — surely  a  contemporary 
testimony  to  the  extraordinary  personal  influence 
exerted  by  the  ''poor  wise  man"  in  his  city. 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  95 

Indeed,  his  life,  known  and  read  of  all  men, 
rayed  out  power  wherever  it  was  encountered  and 
felt,  and  the  old  sovereignty  of  personal  charm  and 
wit  was  transformed  into  a  new  sovereignty  of  holi- 
ness and  wisdom  from  above. 

We  can  therefore  better  understand  the  effect  of 
his  call  to  the  life  of  prayer  and  labour  on  those  of 
his  hearers  in  whose  hearts  there  pulsed  already  a 
deep  longing  for  God.  We  are  not  surprised  to 
learn  that  two  out  of  his  three  first  followers  were 
''simple  men".  And  when  we  read  in  the  Actus 
how  the  third  was  converted,  we  are  constrained 
to  believe  that  had  he  not  been  a  wealthy  noble 
the  chroniclers  would  have  called  Bernard  of  Quin- 
tavalle  a  '^ simple  man"  as  well.  For  all  three 
were  transparently  honest,  full  of  faith  in  the  un- 
seen, humble  and  teachable,  just  such  as  God  loves 
and  men  are  prone  to  despise.  They  were,  in  the 
order  of  their  coming  to  St.  Francis,  Peter  of  Assisi, 
Bernard  of  Quintavalle  and  Egidio,  the  last  perhaps 
the  simplest  of  all,  but  destined  to  confound  the 
wise  and  console  the  mourning,  to  convince  the 
doubting  and  convert  the  unbelieving.  To  no 
one  of  the  early  Franciscans  does  the  tradition  of 
heavenly-mindedness  so  impressively  belong  as  to 
Brother  Egidio,  a  man  of  such  contrite  heart  that 
God  dwelt  very  visibly  with  him.  But  he  was  the 
third  to  join,  and  the  Rule  of  the  ''  little  flock  "  was 
decided  before  his  adhesion. 

When  Bernard  of  Quintavalle,  convinced  of  the 
rare  grace  granted  by  God  to  Francis,  and  longing 


96  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

to  come  under  its  power,  determined  to  join  him, 
the  saint,  notwithstanding  his  joy,  gave  proof  of 
that  sound  judgment  upon  which  the  commune 
had  learned  to  draw,  by  proposing  that  since  the 
life  of  renunciation  was  hard,  they  must  lay  the 
whole  matter  before  the  Lord,  who  would  Himself 
be  its  judge  and  their  counsellor.  So  they  repaired 
to  St.  Nicholas'  Church,  whose  door  is  still  to  be 
seen  on  the  Piazza  Vittorio  Emanuele,  and,  after 
the  office,  knelt  long  in  prayer  for  guidance.  The 
curate  of  St.  Nicholas  was  their  friend,  and  he  con- 
sulted the  gospel  text  when  their  minds  were  pre- 
pared to  accept  its  mandates.  The  first  time  he 
opened  it  these  words  met  his  eyes :  ^'  Go  thy 
way,  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast  and  give  to  the 
poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  Heaven  : 
and  come,  take  up  thy  cross,  and  follow  Me." 
The  second  time,  the  very  gospel  which  had  lately 
impelled  Francis  to  preach  was  on  the  open  page, 
while  the  third  test  of  Bernard's  faith  was  found  to 
be  the  great  and  strenuous  commandment :  "  If  any 
man  will  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  Me." 

Bernard  bowed  his  head  in  obedience  to  all  three, 
and  leaving  the  church,  he  and  Francis  at  once  set 
about  selling  his  houses  and  possessions,  and  bestow- 
ing the  money  realised  on  hospitals,  poor  monas- 
teries, the  neediest  townsfolk,  conquering  by  their 
action  the  heart  of  a  miserly  priest,  who  joined 
them  later  as  Brother  Sylvester.  Then,  having 
finished  this  affair,  the  brothers  passed  down  to  the 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  97 

plain,  and  a  new  stage  in  the  Franciscan  movement 
was  initiated. 

The  passages  read  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas 
were  adopted  as  their  Rule,  and  so  without  novitiate, 
without  function,  with  a  dignified  directness  which 
passed  by  the  tedious  preliminaries  of  monastic 
custom,  they  proceeded  to  obey  its  injunctions. 
This  was  the  only  Rule  whose  vital  importance 
Francis  ever  recognised,  and  the  additions  and 
alterations  incorporated  later  were  wrung  from  his 
bleeding  heart  by  persons  and  circumstances  as  yet 
unforeseen.  For  to  him  Christ,  and  Christ  alone, 
was  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life,  the  Light,  and 
he  sought  to  rescue  his  little  flock  from  the  "  many 
inventions "  by  which  the  Church  had  obscured, 
weakened,  falsified  His  commandments.  Francis 
was  His  servant,  following  in  His  steps,  never  side 
by  side  making  footprints  on  the  way  which  men 
might  mistake  for  his  Master's.  For  there  is  no 
parallel  possible  between  Francis  and  our  Lord ; 
they  are  sundered  by  the  Godhead  itself.  Christ 
was  no  penitent  ;  not  for  His  own  sins  did  He 
atone  upon  the  Cross.  Francis  was  always  a 
penitent,  for  the  errors  of  his  youth,  for  the  blun- 
ders of  his  twenty  years  of  saintliness.  His  service 
to  the  world  was  to  make  Christ's  will  the  first  and 
last  and  only  rule  of  conduct ;  to  prove  all  things 
by  that  rule,  and  so  to  choose  and  reject.  His 
crucible  was  scathing,  and  much  shining  metal 
dimmed  and  shrivelled  in  its  flame. 

The  three  brothers,  soon  joined  by  Egidio,  took 
7 


98  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

up  their  residence  close  to  the  Portiuncula.  Their 
dress  consisted  of  two  garments,  an  under  shirt  and 
a  tunic  of  the  home-woven  grey  cloth  used  by  the 
peasants,  with  a  cape  and  narrow  hood,  and  fastened 
round  the  waist  by  a  cord.  Francis  could  not  im- 
pose four  guests  on  the  poor  priest  at  San  Damiano, 
and  apparently  their  first  homes  were  built  of  mud 
and  roofed  with  wood  after  the  old  Umbrian  plan. 
He  was  an  experienced  builder,  and  must  have  been 
both  architect  and  overseer  of  this  work,  although 
we  may  be  sure  that  he  gave  ftir  less  care  to  the 
construction  of  these  rude  shelters  than  he  had 
given  to  the  sanctuaries. 

The  brothers  had  no  thought  of  relapsing  into 
the  tranquillity  of  hermit  life.  They  were  the 
heralds  of  the  great  King  and  knew  their  marching 
orders.  No  sooner  were  these  simple  preparations 
completed  than  they  left  two  by  two  for  the  March 
of  Ancona  and  for  Tuscany. 

Francis  took  Egidio  with  him,  Bernard's  com- 
panion was  Pietro.  From  village  to  village,  from 
city  to  city,  from  castle  to  castle,  climbing  the  hills 
and  visiting  every  corner  where  humble  homes  were 
built,  the  missionaries  called  to  repentance,  exhorted 
to  the  life  of  holiness,  proclaimed  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

Francis  was  filled  with  joy,  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  the  Portiuncula  to  count  up  their  gains 
for  the  Master,  he  could  hardly  restrain  himself 
from  predictions  of  a  world-wide  success.  From 
solitude  he  had  been  planted  in  a  family,  from  the 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  99 

despite  of  men  he  had  been  raised  into  their  honour, 
from  penitential  weeping  he  had  been  transferred 
to  the  gladness  of  accepted  service.  As  they 
journeyed,  they  sang ;  they  encountered  all  with 
joyous  smiles ;  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  for  a  few 
hours'  rest  in  an  outhouse,  or  under  the  shadow  of 
a  tree,  they  tendered  the  bread  of  heaven,  the 
peace  that  passeth  understanding.  And  men 
listened  and  welcomed  their  message.  Some 
mocked,  but  that  was  the  very  sign  of  God's  pre- 
sence with  them.  "  Happy  are  ye  when  men  shall 
persecute  you  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil 
against  you  for  My  sake."  This  pledge  of  accept- 
ance was  not  denied  them. 

They  had  just  entered  upon  a  crisis,  which  only 
that  invincible  attitude  could  withstand.  Three 
others  joined  the  brotherhood,  men  who  sold  all 
they  had,  gave  it  to  the  poor  and  came  down  to 
the  plain.  The  matter  was  becoming  serious. 
Those  who  expected  to  inherit  were  indignant. 
Had  any  man  the  right  to  disappoint  his  heirs  by 
scattering  abroad  during  his  life  what  should  accrue 
to  them  at  his  death }  This  new  development, 
unconventual,  unauthorised,  threatened  to  destroy 
the  very  foundations  of  civilised  life,  to  attack  the 
time-honoured  institution  of  adding  field  to  field, 
of  storing  wealth  which  should  ensure  unearned 
privileges  for  generations  of  descendants.  There 
was  a  reaction  against  Francis  and  his  followers. 
Even  the  bishop,  who  had  given  him  a  cautious 
measure  of  protection,  was  alarmed  at  this  aspect 


100  FRANCIS  OF  ASSLSI 

of  his  influence,  for  the  dissipation  of  large  sums 
amongst  the  needy  was  no  gain  to  the  Church  and 
might  disturb  her  autliority.  Unless  these  men 
could  be  haltered  and  reined  by  monasticism,  their 
growth  into  a  numerous  body  was  a  menace. 

The  matter  excited  a  passionate  interest,  and  the 
bishop  decided  to  intervene.  Francis  was  sent 
for.  Guido  remonstrated  with  him  on  his  manner 
of  life,  its  want  of  responsibility,  its  uncompromising 
poverty.  Doubtless  this  last  rankled  in  the  clerical 
mind,  and  induced  the  priests  to  make  common 
cause  with  the  laity.  Devotion  to  the  name  of 
Christ  was  all  very  well,  but  devotion  to  His 
poverty  and  preaching  was  extremely  inconvenient, 
and  must  be  diverted  into  cloistered  silences,  where 
it  could  do  no  harm.  But  Francis  stood,  unap- 
proachable as  a  celestial  being,  clothed  in  Christ 
Jesus,  gentle,  humble,  aware.  "  If  we  had  posses- 
sions," he  answered,  ''we  should  need  arms  to 
defend  them ;  for  from  them  arise  questionings 
and  strife  ;  and  thus  the  love  of  God  and  of  our 
neighbour  is  hindered.  And  for  this  cause,  we 
desire  no  worldly  wealth."  What  an  impeachment 
of  the  Curia,  busy  then  with  armed  resistance  to 
Otho  in  the  south,  lurked  in  these  unanswerable 
words.  For  Guido  found  no  further  argument 
against  their  manner  of  life,  and  contented  himself 
with  forbidding  his  preaching  in  Assisi,  where  the 
matter  raged  for  a  brief  interval  incited  by  indis- 
creeter  men,  both  priests  and  laymen.  Amongst 
the  gentler  people  there   was  a  growing  affection 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  101 

for  Francis,  as  if  in  him  and  his  followers  Christ 
were  lifted  up,  and  drew  others  by  a  magnetism 
greater  than  they  knew.  But  with  the  controversy 
the  brothers  occupied  themselves  not  at  all. 

They  were  eight  now,  and  it  was  the  spring  of 
1210.  It  was  time  to  go  forth  in  different  directions 
to  save  men  by  example  and  by  precept.  Francis 
sent  away  six  and  took  the  eighth  himself,  each 
couple  going  towards  one  of  the  cardinal  points. 
"  Go,"  he  said,  "  preach  repentance  to  all  men, 
without  concern  that  ye  are  of  little  account  and 
ignorant,  for  God,  who  has  overcome  the  world, 
will  speak  in  you  and  by  you  to  the  converting  of 
many.  But  fear  not  when  men  oppose  you  and  re- 
fuse your  message,  for  soon  even  the  nobles  and  the 
wise  will  be  with  you,  preaching  to  kings  and  to 
princes  and  to  the  nations,"  And  blessing  them 
one  by  one — "  Cast  all  your  care  upon  God,  who 
careth  for  you"  he  said  to  each. 

This  time  Bernard  took  Egidio  with  him  and 
turned  towards  Frorence,  while  the  others,  two  by 
two,  went  on  their  respective  ways.  The  adventures 
of  the  brothers  in  Florence  are  given  by  the  Three 
Companions,  and  vividly  represent  their  faring  and 
its  incidents.  One  point  stands  out  in  relief  from 
the  simple  narrative,  and  that  concerns  the  attitude 
of  the  first  brothers  towards  alms.  St.  Francis  is 
constantly  accused  of  converting  the  Umbrians,  if 
not  the  Italians,  into  a  horde  of  beggars.  It  is 
quite  certain  that  the  Church  has  done  so  by 
hindering    industrial    development    and    independ- 


102  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

ence,  by  making  it  meritorious  to  give  to  all  who 
ask  without  the  laborious  processes  which  constitute 
effective  charity,  so  that  idleness  and  professional 
vagabondage  have  been  studiously  encouraged. 
Assisi  was,  as  we  have  noted  in  her  history,  a 
pauper  city  a  thousand  years  before  Francis  was 
born,  and  her  misfortunes  increased  the  percentage 
of  her  begging  population.  This  was,  indeed,  the 
very  evil  which  Francis  sought  to  remedy  by  the 
practical  means  of  adopting  poverty  and  giving  an 
example  of  how  it  should  be  used.  Of  all  things, 
he  contemned  idleness  and  wanton  beggary  most. 
To  his  thinking  they  were  more  shameful  than 
wealth,  for  just  as  surely  did  the  squalid  material 
preoccupations  of  mendicancy  estrange  the  soul 
from  God,  as  did  great  riches.  Therefore  work 
was  ordained  as  an  equivalent  for  whatever  men 
gave  to  the  brothers,  and  they  were  not  permitted 
to  accept  more  than  was  immediately  needed. 
Their  daily  hunger  must  be  satisfied,  the  garments 
from  time  to  time  must  be  renewed,  but  both  these 
needs  were  reduced  to  their  minimum,  and  for  sup- 
plies a  fair  return  Avas  made  in  the  cornfields,  the 
vineyards,  at  the  olive  gathering,  in  building,  repair- 
ing, portage.  We  constantly  meet  with  instances 
of  money  refused,  or  flung  aside  with  contempt,  a 
difficult  lesson  to  teach,  but  strenuously  insisted  on. 
And  we  discover  in  this  artless  account  of  Bernard's 
and  Egidio's  preaching  in  Florence  a  proof  of  their 
care  for  "the  dignity  of  the  Lady  Poverty,"  when 
in   a    Florentine    church   they  declined   to  receive 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  103 

money  from  Messer  Guido,  because  they  had  be- 
come voluntarily  poor  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  for 
that  reason  were  not  troubled  by  their  poverty  at 
all,  as  those  were  upon  whom  it  weighed  like  a  load. 
Hospitality  they  accepted  in  the  form  of  simplest 
food  and  shelter,  and  they  gently  declined  all  super- 
fluity. For  the  true  Lady  Poverty  has  her  delicacies 
and  reserves,  and  is,  indeed,  a  dame  of  highest  birth 
and  breeding. 

For  the  peace  of  God,  which  they  bestowed  as 
His  almoners,  they  accepted  the  slight  return  of 
a  meal  and  a  shelter.  Sometimes  these  were  not 
forthcoming,  and  then  they  bore  their  temporary 
discomfort  with  cheerful  patience.  Whining  was 
unknown  in  those  glorious  days  of  the  initiation  of 
the  order. 

If  they  had  gone  forth  with  ardour,  they  re- 
turned to  the  Portiuncula  with  joy,  and  perhaps  we 
may  fix  the  season  of  i'entecost  as  the  date  of  their 
glad  reunion. 

But  some  of  his  experiences,  and  amongst  them 
the  prohibition  to  preach  in  Assisi,  had  decided 
Francis  to  take  a  step  of  the  utmost  importance. 
Apparently  they  brought  back  three  new  adherents, 
or  were  joined  by  these  on  their  arrival.  Including 
Francis,  the  poor  penitents  of  the  Portiuncula  had 
attained  the  number  of  Christ's  disciples.  He  knew 
that  as  they  increased  difficulties  of  the  kind  already 
met  would  increase  also.  He  could  not  contemplate 
monasticism  as  a  solution  of  these  difficulties,  for 
the  work  which   God  had  called  him  to  do  was  in 


104  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

the  wide  field  of  the  world,  not  in  walled  seclusion. 
But  that  he  might  silence  rancour  and  avoid  failure, 
he  must  be  possessed  of  authority,  to  which  his 
detractors  would  bow.  The  brotherhood  was  to  be- 
come a  j)attern  to  the  world,  for  nothing  is  so  much 
emphasised  by  his  early  biographers  as  his  insist- 
ence upon  such  behaviour  in  all  things  as  should 
commend  and  adorn  what  they  preached.  Indeed, 
so  sensitive  was  he  on  this  point  that  he  constantly 
trusted  to  example  alone,  forgetting  that  it  is  a 
sermon  which  reaches  the  few  and  eludes  the  many, 
who  may  emotionally  admire  goodness  without  a 
single  effort  to  practise  its  stern  behests.  Fortun- 
ately, of  those  silent  sermons  his  companions  took 
note,  and  they  are  eloquent  to-day.  He  believed 
that  the  humility,  simplicity  and  forbearance  of 
the  brothers  would  prove  their  safeguard,  so  he  de- 
vised for  them  the  name  of  Brothers  Minor  when 
it  became  clear  to  him  that  some  such  title  was 
necessary  to  their  organisation.  *'  A  new  people  " 
they  were  to  be,  "and  an  humble,"  the  "little 
flock  "  which  Christ  desired  of  the  Father. 

This  point  being  settled,  he  wrote  out  the 
gospel  Rule,  which  so  many  leadings  had  indicated 
and  confirmed  as  their  guide  of  conduct,  hid  it  in 
the  breast  of  his  tunic,  and  calling  his  company 
together  joyfully  started  for  Rome.  A  happy  dream 
gave  him  courage,  and  commending  themselves  to 
God  the  twelve  poor  men  took  the  way  southwards 
in  August,  1210,  just  when  the  days  were  hottest, 
but  when,  too,  the  shadow  of  thick  foliage  lay  on 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  105 

the  narrow  roatls  leading  straight  as  a  dart  from 
point  to  point.  We  do  not  know  exactly  how  they 
went,  probably  by  Spoleto,  Narni  and  Civita  Castel- 
lana,  but  we  do  know  that  they  were  filled  with 
hope  of  a  speedy  return,  bearing  their  credentials 
with  them.  And  their  hope  did  not  make  them 
ashamed,  although  its  realisation  was  vouchsafed 
from  the  very  crisis  of  despair. 

When  they  reached  Rome  they  sought  out  Bishop 
Guido,  of  Assisi,  who  was  there  at  the  time.  He 
was  glad  that  his  words  to  Francis  had  so  far  taken 
effect,  and  expected  that  the  Brothers  Minor  would 
be  placed  under  his  authority,  so  that  he  might 
guard  them  from  zeal  beyond  discretion.  He  wel- 
comed them,  therefore,  and  secured  for  them  the 
countenance  of  Cardinal  Colonna,  one  of  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  college,  doubtless 
acquainting  him  with  the  difficulties  of  the  case 
and  with  their  leader's  prepossession  in  favour  of  a 
non-monastic,  but  evangelical  and  missionary.  Rule. 
The  cardinal,  full  of  questions  and  obstacles,  lis- 
tened to  all  that  Francis  had  to  urge  on  behalf  of 
his  vocation,  but,  while  praising  his  manner  of  life, 
he  sought  delicately  to  suggest  its  conversion  into 
monasticism.  He  confronted  the  unassailable  atti- 
tude which  had  already  blunted  assaults  from 
many  would-be  advisers.  Francis  answered  gently 
that  he  had  received  both  call  and  Rule  from  Christ 
Himself,  and  that  his  obedience  was  to  Him. 
Again,  that  pure  flame  of  faith  was  triumphant, 
and  Cardinal  Colonna  knew  the  presence  of  one 


106  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

whom  the  Master  needed.  He  promised  his 
support  with  Innocent,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  in  no  mood  to  waste  audiences  upon  obscure 
suppliants. 

But  he  granted  them  one  on  the  terrace  of  the 
Lateran  known  as  the  "  Moving  Mirror,"  and  they 
knelt  before  him  while  he  gave  a  scanty  attention 
to  their  plea  out  of  courtesy  to  Cardinal  Colonna. 
He  was  by  no  means  prepossessed  with  their 
appearance,  and  took  them  for  some  new  faction 
of  the  Patarenes  or  Albigenses,  with  whom  he  waged 
an  exterminating  war  in  Languedoc.  They  were 
curtly  dismissed  as  his  impression  took  this  form, 
and  Francis  left  the  Lateran  stunned  with  dis- 
appointment, although  scarcely  in  need  of  the 
Pontiffs  farewell  admonition  to  ask  God  to  make 
known  His  will.  He  and  his  followers,  reeling 
under  this  blow,  betook  themselves  naturally  to 
prayer. 

God  was  on  their  side,  for  Innocent,  a  few  nights 
earlier,  had  been  startled  by  a  dream  of  the  Church 
of  St.  John  Lateran,  which  seemed  to  be  falling  to 
the  ground,  except  for  a  poor  man  who  bore  up  its 
walls  with  arm  and  shoulder.  Somewhere  in  that 
haughty  spirit  there  must  have  stirred  an  accusing 
consciousness  of  the  Church's  decadence,  whence 
rose  this  threatening  dream.  It  returned  to  his 
recollection,  nor  could  he  forget  the  suppliant 
brother's  arresting  face.  Perhaps  it  recalled  his 
vision,  which  proved  to  be  a  prevision.  By  what- 
ever means  God  ruled  his  mind,  it  is  certain  that 


POPE    INNOCENT    HIS    DREAM 
From  Giotto's  fresco  in  the  Upper  Chicnh  at  Assisi 


THE  BROTHERS  MINOR  107 

he  decided  to  see  Francis  again.  Some  of  the 
cardinals  objected,  but  Cardinal  Colonna  talked 
over  the  situation  with  him  and  recalled  the 
blunder  made  by  Alexander  III.  when  Peter  Waldo 
was  dismissed. 

So  Francis,  found  at  work  in  the  Leper  Hospital, 
was  sent  for.  He  had  received  new  inspiration 
from  prayer,  and  when  Innocent  turned  upon  him 
a  face  more  favouring  and  more  expectant  than  on 
the  previous  day,  he  spoke  this  parable,  which 
came  from  his  lips  almost  as  if  his  Master  breathed 
it,  so  wholly  was  it  in  the  manner  of  Him  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake. 

"  In  the  desert  dwelt  a  woman  very  poor,  but 
very  fair.  A  great  king  espoused  her,  knowing 
that  her  children  would  be  fair  as  she  was,  and  she 
abode  with  them  in  the  wilderness.  But  when  the 
eldest  were  tall,  she  said  to  them  :  '  My  children, 
you  have  no  cause  to  blush,  for  you  are  the  sons  of 
the  king ;  go,  then,  to  his  court  and  he  will  supply 
all  your  need.'  When  they  were  come  to  the 
court  the  king  wondered  at  their  beauty  and  at 
their  likeness  to  himself.  '  Whose  sons  are  you  ?  ' 
he  asked,  and  when  they  told  of  their  mother  who 
lived  in  the  desert  he  pressed  them  to  his  bosom, 
saying  :  '  Fear  not,  for  you  are  my  sons  ;  if  bastards 
sit  at  my  table,  shall  not  you  who  are  my  well- 
begotten } '  And  he  sent  messengers  to  the  poor 
woman  bidding  her  send  the  others  too.  I  am, 
most  Holy  Father,"  said  Francis,  "the  poor  woman, 
whom    God's  love  has   rendered  fair  and  my  sons 


108  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

are  begotten  of  God.  Tlie  King  of  kings  will 
nourish  these  my  sons,  for  if  He  receives  even 
bastards,  will  He  not  far  more  gladly  take  care 
of  His  own  ?" 

It  was  a  bold  word,  for  did  he  not  claim  for  the 
children  of  his  Lady  Poverty  alone  the  lawful  be- 
getting of  the  sons  of  God_,  and  how  scathingly  did 
he  class  the  luxurious  princes  of  the  Church  as 
*'  bastards  ". 

But  it  convinced  some  tortuous  depth  in  Pope 
Innocent's  mind,  which  hoped  to  win  the  new 
order  as  an  accredited  force  against  heresy,  and  he 
granted  them  authority  as  j)reachers  and  mission- 
aries, making  Francis  superior  of  the  Brothers 
Minor,  who  were  required  to  submit  to  the  tonsure. 
It  is  possible  that  the  saint  was  ordained  deacon  at 
this  time.  The  Pope,  full  of  affectionate  protesta- 
tion, took  every  step,  short  of  alarming  their  leader, 
to  mark  them  as  his  own. 


iXD    HIS    FIRST    FOLLOWEUS    PRF.SENTING   THE    RULE  TO 
rOl'E    INNOCENT    III 


From  Giotto  s  fresco  in  the  Upper  Church  at  Assist 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  THREE  ORDERS 
1210—1212 

The  Return  from  Rome — Orte — Rivo  Torto — Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli — The  Career! — Increase  of  the  Order— The 
Third  Order  — Clare  degli  Sciffi  — The  Poor  Sisters  of 
Penitence — San  Damiano — Rule  of  the  Second  Order. 

THEIR  long  delay  in  Rome  ended  at  last,  and, 
forgetful  of  all  else  but  their  freedom  to  re- 
turn, the  Brothers  Minor  set  out  from  the  Porta 
Salaria  by  the  summer-parched,  sun-smitten  road  to 
the  north.  They  might  have  perished  on  the  way 
had  not  a  traveller  given  them  food.  Their  modest 
triumph  at  the  Curia  had  been  discounted  by  in- 
credulity, mockery  and  contempt,  ])ut  out  of  the 
furnace  they  had  snatched  authority  to  exist,  to 
preach,  to  go  out  beyond  the  seas  with  the  gospel 
message.  In  their  simplicity  they  did  not  realise 
that  the  grip  of  the  Pope  was  upon  them.  They 
were  not  even  concerned  that  their  gospel  Rule 
had  not  received  his  endorsement,  bore  no  pendent 
seal  of  authorisation.  It  was  Christ's  Rule,  and, 
with  its  clauses.  His  Vicar  might  not  meddle.  Had 
there  been  a  flaw  in  their  faith  they  could  hardly 
(109) 


110  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

have  survived  that  terrible  journey  in  the  glare  and 
malaria  of  early  autumn.  As  it  was,  they  were  ex- 
hausted by  the  time  they  reached  Orte  and  took 
refuge  from  the  heat  in  some  ancient  tombs  in  its 
neighbourhood.  In  their  cool  depths  they  recovered 
physical  equilibrium,  and  from  prayer  and  praise 
they  drew  renewed  moral  and  spiritual  strength. 
For  a  brief  moment  it  seemed  to  them  good  to 
abide  where  these  tabernacles  were  provided,  and 
where  they  could  forget,  as  in  a  hermitage,  the 
clamour  and  distressful  worldliness  which  they  had 
left  behind  at  Rome,  and  a  measure  of  which 
awaited  them  even  on  the  beloved  Umbrian  plain. 
Here  in  quietness  they  might  pass  their  days,  and 
the  nearness  of  the  place  to  the  world  in  which  their 
spirits  loved  to  dwell,  the  presence  of  God  which 
gladdens  every  solitude,  almost  overcame  their  re- 
solution. For,  in  a  nature  so  exalted  as  that  of 
Francis,  retreat  to  a  desert  place  to  pray  held  out  a 
constant  allurement  battling  in  his  mind  with  that 
call  to  work  which  he  obeyed.  Indeed,  the  tradition 
that  he  practised  a  Lenten  fast  and  meditation  nine 
times  a  year  grew  doubtless  from  his  growing  need 
of  such  retirement  to  recruit  those  spiritual  forces 
which  were  exhausted  in  the  desperate  pressure  of 
his  duties. 

They  stayed  a  fortnight  here,  going  two  by  two 
to  the  town  and  villages  to  preach,  now  armed  with 
Innocent's  sanction  and  listened  to  with  respect. 
Their  simplicity,  directness  and  cheerfulness  acted 
like  a  charm  on  the  peasants  and  tlie  poorer  towns- 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  111 

folk.  We  can  hardly  realise  how  great  an  influence 
that  authority  to  preach  the  poverty  of  Christ  must 
have  exerted  upon  those  oppressed  with  indigence 
and  toil,  to  whom  heretofore  no  consolation  had 
been  offered.  Priests,  monks  and  dignitaries  they 
knew,  but  never  one  of  them  unwilling  to  add 
to  his  possessions,  disposed  to  lay  up  treasure 
in  heaven.  The  men  who  decried  such  and  lived 
laborious  days  were  under  the  Pope's  ban,  went  to 
and  fro  with  their  lives  in  their  hands.  But  these 
happy  pilgrims,  messengers  from  Christ  truly,  had, 
what  was  even  more  impressive,  the  Pope's  leave  to 
teach  that  it  was  a  Christ-like  thing  to  be  content 
with  bread  and  water,  to  give  brotherly  aid  at  the 
vintage  and  with  the  plough,  asking  a  crust,  a  hand- 
ful of  grapes  for  recompense  ;  to  comfort  mourners 
and  to  preach  the  coming  of  righteousness,  peace 
and  joy.  Wherever  they  went  or  tarried  men  and 
women  gathered  round  them,  wondering  and  listen- 
ing to  what  had  been  spoken  twelve  centuries 
earlier,  but  had  been  silenced.  Their  homeward 
journey  lengthened  into  a  missionary  itinerary,  and 
when  they  reached  the  Portiuncula  at  last,  it  was 
to  pour  out  their  praise  and  gratitude  for  tlie  first 
fruits  vouchsafed. 

Francis  knew  of  a  deserted  lazar-house,  called 
Rivo  Torto,  of  which  they  might  make  a  dormitory. 
With  a  good  deal  of  crowding,  each  brother  could 
find  in  it  space  to  lie  down  and  sleep,  and  he 
assigned  to  each  his  post.  The  settlement  was 
close  to  a  torrent  from  Monte  Subasio,  some  bend 


112  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

in  whose  course  gave  it  the  name  of  Crooked  Bank, 
but  both  stream  and  bend  have  disappeared.  In 
turn,  the  brothers  cleansed  and  swept  their  dwell- 
ing, which  was  little  more  than  a  shelter  for  meals 
and  sleep.  The  "table  of  the  Lord"  was  not 
always  furnished  with  food,  but  they  cheerfully 
ignored  their  lack.  Faithfully  they  ministered  to 
the  lepers,  providing  first  for  them.  Their  number 
continued  to  increase,  so  that  some  of  them  went 
out  to  heal  the  sick  in  other  villages  far  and  near, 
where  they  were  welcomed  as  leeches  not  unskilled 
in  binding  up  wounds,  in  the  use  of  herbs,  in  the 
treatment  of  familiar  ailments. 

They  acted  as  a  new  hope  and  a  new  consolation, 
and  carried  about  in  their  own  persons  a  new  pat- 
tern of  life — not  merely  a  stolid  endurance  of 
suffering,  but  an  ardour  for  toil  and  destitution  as 
if  they  were  a  privilege  hitherto  unrecognised.  So 
they  cast  out  the  devils  of  discontent  and  selfish- 
ness, and  filled  with  songs  of  praise  men's  mouths, 
that  had  railed  against  God  and  their  neighbours. 

What  the  appearance  of  St.  Francis  in  the  pea- 
sants' houses  and  the  little  towns  meant  for  all 
who  hurried  to  greet  him  and  gaze  on  him,  we  may 
gather  from  that  volume  of  story  known  as  the 
Actus,  collected  perhaps  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
perhaps  earlier,  from  many  sources,  some  of  true 
biographical  value,  others  legendary,  but  bearing 
the  seal  of  verisimilitude,  others  wholly  mythical, 
and  yet  loyal  to  the  impression  made  by  the  saint's 
charm    and    hallowed    gaiety.       They    have    been 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  113 

recently  published  by  M.  Sabatier  from  a  beautiful 
and  ancient  manuscript  in  his  possession.  From 
the  Actus  Brother  Ugolino  of  Monte  Giorgio  trans- 
lated into  Italian  that  collection  of  its  chapters 
known  as  the  Fioretti,  in  which  we  find  St.  Francis 
more  truly  and  sweetly  limned  than  in  all  the 
biographies — a  collection  made  a  century  after  his 
death,  but  to-day  reverenced  and  read  in  Italy  as 
its  most  precious  classic.  The  Fiorelli  express  what 
the  people  of  Italy  meant  by  their  beloved  saint, 
and  are  his  apotheosis  in  their  heart. 

We  have  already  noted  his  influence  in  Assisi. 
The  compact  between  nobles  and  people,  refeiTed 
to  in  our  last  chapter,  belongs  to  the  close  of  1210, 
and  the  very  terms  used  to  express  its  two  con- 
tracting parties  point  to  St.  Francis  as  their  source, 
for  they  are  no  longer  sundered  as  nobles  and 
common  people,  but  united  as  the  greater  and  the 
minor  members  of  the  community.  To  the  minors, 
thus  delicately  distinguished,  he  gave  the  name  of 
those  whom  Christ  has  chosen  from  the  wise  and 
noble,  and  to  whose  company  might  belong  such 
of  both  as  were  willing  to  give  up  all  for  His  sake. 

Other  towns  followed  this  example  and  the 
influence  of  the  Brothers  Minor  in  civic  politics 
became  a  memorable  factor  throughout  Italy. 

Several  popular  stories  refer  to  their  short  stay 
in  the  lazar-house  of  Rivo  Torto.  Hither  came 
the  Emperor  Otho  to  seek  an  interview  with 
Francis,  who  warned  him  of  his  brief  term  of 
power,  a  prediction  fulfilled  with  the  appearance 
8 


111.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

of  Frederick  II.  Here,  too,  the  brothers  were 
aware,  one  Saturday  night,  of  a  vision  of  celestial 
light,  which  they  knew  to  be  the  spirit  of  their 
beloved  superior,  who  was  sojourning  two  miles 
away  in  a  little  arbour  made  for  him  by  the  canons 
of  the  cathedral,  whose  greater  comfort  he  would 
not  share,  since  his  companions  were  huddled  within 
the  narrow  walls  of  Rivo  Torto.  Permission  to 
preach  in  7\ssisi  was  restored.  He  had  turned  the 
tables  upon  those  who  founded  their  opposition  to 
the  Brothers  Minor  upon  their  want  of  legalised 
organisation,  for  the  Pope  had  granted  them  license 
to  preach  and  had  not  meddled  with  their  doctrine. 

Some  of  the  earliest  adherents  sought  to  emulate 
their  superior's  abstinence  with  zeal  beyond  discre- 
tion. One  night  they  were  roused  by  loud  groan- 
ing, and  Francis,  finding  that  it  came  from  a  brother 
sleepless  on  account  of  starvation,  took  what  re- 
mained of  the  day's  store,  and  ate  with  him  that 
he  might  not  feel  convicted  of  carnal  appetite  — 
bidding  him  temper  his  fasts  with  common  sense, 
since  it  availed  little  for  the  spirit  if  the  body 
broke  down  altogether.  We  hear,  too,  how  he 
coaxed  another  brother,  invalided  and  suffering, 
out  in  the  early  morning  to  a  vineyard,  where  he 
began  himself  to  eat  ripe  grapes,  and  to  encourage 
him  to  do  the  like,  as  they  were  wholesome  for  his 
malady.  This  must  have  happened  soon  after  their 
return  from  Orte,  about  the  time  of  vintage. 

Perhaps  the  winter  months  were  responsible  for 
their    occasional     semi  -  starvation,    for    the    rains 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  115 

stopped  all  industry,  and  a  handful  of  turnips  or 
beans  provided  but  a  scanty  meal. 

In  spring,  1211,  they  were  driven  from  the  lazar- 
house  by  a  rough  peasant,  who  wanted  it  as  a  stable 
for  his  ass,  and  Francis  decided  to  beg  from  the 
Benedictines  on  Monte  Subasio  the  little  church 
of  the  Portiuncula,  with  its  adjacent  clearing  in 
the  woods.  His  friends  at  the  Duomo  had  no 
spare  land  to  bestow  upon  the  order,  but  the 
Benedictine  Abbot,  Maccabeo,  gave  him  the  sanc- 
tuary of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  on  condition 
that  it  should  remain  to  all  time  the  metropolitan 
of  the  Brothers  Minor.  Joyfully  did  the  saint  agree 
to  so  sympathetic  a  contract,  and  he  voluntarily 
undertook  to  send  a  yearly  rent,  consisting  of  a 
creel  of ''  the  little  fishes  which  be  called  roaches," 
to  the  monastery.  Once  a  year  some  gentle  brother 
had  a  good  day's  fishing,  perhaps  in  the  Chiaggio 
across  the  plain,  or  in  the  Topino  close  to  Bevagna 
— memorable  streams,  for  one  had  quieted  in  death 
the  tortured  body  of  Assisi's  bishop-martyr,  and 
the  other  is  immortalised  in  Dante's  Paradiso. 
Even  Izaak  Walton  could  scarcely  have  taken  a 
basketful  out  of  the  Tescio.  We  may  be  sure, 
however,  that  the  happy  angler  used  no  bait  temp- 
tingly disposed  upon  a  hook  while  Francis  lived, 
and  that  short  work  with  a  net  would  put  bounds 
to  his  sport. 

Thankfully  the  brothers  flitted  to  their  "little 
portion".  They  built  huts  of  wood  and  clay  after 
the  old    Umbrian   pattern,  each  with  a  tiny  herb- 


116  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

garden  at  its  rear.  According  to  an  old  print, 
there  were  two  rows  of  huts  facing  each  other, 
between  the  first  pair  of  which  stood  the  church, 
and  behind  it  a  hut  for  infirmary  purposes,  some- 
what larger  than  the  others.  As  new  members 
swelled  their  number,  huts  were  added,  but  not 
till  much  later  was  the  double  fence  or  hedge 
planted  to  serve  as  a  boundary  wall.  All  round 
grew  the  forest,  and  from  their  enclosure  the 
brothers  coming  and  going  could  look  up  to  Assisi 
and  her  castle.  But  the  print  is  little  more  than 
two  centuries  old,  and  we  cannot  trust  its  details  as 
correctly  picturing  the  first  settlement,  although  it 
may  preserve  its  plan.  The  hut  assigned  to  Francis 
is  placed  to  the  right  of  the  church  and  close  to  the 
infirmary.  Down  at  the  spot  we  recapture  no  im- 
pression of  its  first  simplicity.  A  huge  and  inhar- 
monious basilica  covers  the  sanctuary,  which  has 
itself  been  desecrated  by  modern  frescoes,  so  that 
but  one  part  of  its  outer  wall  is  unspoilt,  that 
entered  by  St.  Benedict's  door.  Within  things 
are  a  little  better  :  the  altar  is  less  tawdry  than 
usual,  and  we  can  reverently  touch  the  bare  walls 
which  Francis  restored  before  his  call  to  preach. 
For  these  rough  walls  constrain  us  to  our  knees  in 
humble  seeking  after  the  God  who  dwelt  with  the 
Brothers  Minor. 

Here  then  at  last  was  a  rest  for  the  soles  of 
their  feet,  a  centre  for  their  gatherings  twice  in 
the  year.  For  they  desired  no  abiding  city,  since 
it  was  their  business  to  go  out  into  the  whole  world. 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  ll7 

But,  even  for  these  pilgrim  apostles,  some  tryst  was 
essential,  and  they  found  it  here.  It  must  have 
been  about  the  same  time,  or  earlier,  that  good 
Maccabeo  gave  them  leave  to  seek  the  caves  of  the 
Carceri  for  meditation  and  prayer.  It  was  certainly 
while  the  order  was  in  its  infancy,  for  the  hermits 
of  tlie  Carceri  were  St.  Francis  and  liis  first  com- 
panions. Between  the  third  and  fourth  shoulders 
of  Subasio  a  deep  ravine  has  been  worn  by  a 
vanished  torrent ;  trees  climb  its  steep  walls,  rem- 
nant of  the  forest  which  once  covered  the  moun- 
tain's massive  flanks.  Here,  on  a  morsel  of  plateau, 
the  Benedictines  had  built  a  couple  of  chapels, 
where  the  office  might  be  said  and  sung,  and  in 
one  of  them  they  hung  above  the  altar  a  sweet 
Byzantine  picture  of  the  Madonna,  old  as  the  cruci- 
fix of  San  Damiano.  Themselves  reduced  in  num- 
bers, they  were  unable  to  spare  monks  for  so  many 
settlements.  So  they  willingly  opened  its  retreats 
to  the  Brothers  Minor,  who  found  caves  to  sleep  in 
amongst  rocks  whicli  overhang  the  gorge.  The 
noise  of  the  torrent,  the  rustle  of  ilex  and  plane- 
trees,  the  song  of  birds,  the  bark  of  some  nocturnal 
fox,  perhaps  the  howl  of  a  wolf  in  winter-time,  were 
the  only  sounds  to  distract  their  thoughts.  Santa 
Maria  dei  Carceri  Francis  called  the  spot,  and 
climbed  thither  from  the  plain  when  his  recur- 
rent hour  of  panting  for  the  living  God  called 
him  away.  For,  like  his  Master,  he  needed  the 
wilderness  for  prayer,  and  amongst  his  followers 
he  rated  highest,  not  the  busiest  and  most  bustl- 


118  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

ing,  but  those  who  steeped  themselves  from  time 
to  time  in  holy  solitude  and  spent  long  days  and 
nights  in  prayer  for  themselves  and  all  the  world. 
They  were  his  '^paladins  of  the  Round  Table," 
whose  going  forth  was  victory.  His  own  cave  lies 
below  the  chapels,  while  the  others  are  on  either 
side  the  ravine.  He  could  pass  from  it  into  the 
woods,  where  cyclamens  and  pinks,  yellow  orchids 
and  white  stitchwort,  honeysuckle,  citisus  and 
broom  still  recall  the  spring  and  summer  jewels 
which  gleamed  for  his  delight.  And  on  the  trees 
perched  his  little  brothers,  the  birds,  who  gathered 
about  him  as  about  a  presence  harmless  and  be- 
loved, and  whom  he  included  in  his  gospel 
preached  to  all  "creatures,"  for  did  they  not 
day  and  night  praise  God  and  outweary  the  very 
saint  himself,  when  he  tried  to  cap  their  strophe 
with  his  antistrophe  ? 

Here  he  filled  his  soul  with  restoring  peace,  and 
here  he  fought  out  those  spiritual  battles,  known 
now  as  then  by  every  farer  on  the  narrow  way, 
but  which  then  seemed  to  take  the  form  of  a  hand- 
to-hand  combat  with  the  very  prince  of  darkness. 
To  his  sensitive  conscience  the  faintest  longing  for 
physicial  comfort,  the  merest  stumble  on  the  rough 
way  of  the  Cross,  was  nothing  short  of  diabolic 
temptation,  to  be  resisted  unto  death. 

Abbot  Maccabeo's  generosity  to  the  Poor  Peni- 
tents— continued  in  later  times  by  Benedictines  to 
Franciscans — is  all  the  more  interesting  to  us  that 
it  doubtless  sprang  from  the  Umbrian  birth  of  their 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  119 

own  great  founder  and  saint,  and  we  may  infer  from 
these  repeated  benefactions  their  conviction  that 
Francis,  too,  was  a  saint.  Green  Umbria  gave  to 
the  Christian  world  her  two  greatest  reformers, 
and  although  seven  centuries  lay  between  their 
actual  lives,  the  recognition  of  the  later  by  the 
disciples  of  the  former  is  a  striking  testimony  to 
his  worth. 

New  adherents  joined  the  Brothers  Minor  from 
Assisi,  the  villages,  the  peasant  homes.  Amongst 
these  was  Brother  Leo,  who,  with  Brother  Sylvester, 
represented  the  clergy.  More  fortunate  was  Francis 
herein  than  his  Master,  to  whom  came  no  priest 
even  by  night.  But  with  increase  followed  diffi- 
culty, for  some  were  recalcitrant  at  times.  Thus 
Brothers  Sylvester  and  Rufinus  loved  the  passive 
better  than  the  active  side  of  his  Rule — made  happy 
hermits,  but  poor  labourers  and  unwilling  mission- 
aries. Brother  Egidio  was  the  exemplar  of  his 
"  Round  Table,"  humble,  prayerful,  obedient,  de- 
voted to  the  service  of  Lady  Poverty,  ministering 
joyfully  whether  as  day  labourer,  as  menial  at  the 
lazar-houses,  as  gospel  herald,  as  messenger  on 
business  of  the  order. 

When  rich  young  men  sought  admission,  Francis 
warned  them  forcefully  of  the  hardships  to  which 
they  must  submit ;  when  the  poor  desired  this  life 
of  perfection,  he  rejoiced  that  for  them  its  way  was 
not  so  narrow,  not  so  rough.  But  numbers  flocked 
to  him  of  rich  and  poor  alike.  Some,  too,  whom 
years  and  duties  prevented  from  becoming  Brothers 


120  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Minor,  petitioned  for  acceptance  as  members  prac- 
tising the  Christ-life  "  in  the  world,  but  not  of  the 
world,"  and  during  those  glorious  yeai-s  many  men 
and  women  thus  obeyed  the  doctrine.  This  de- 
velopment was  a  sign  of  the  glad  welcome  given 
to  the  teaching  and  example  of  the  friars.  Francis 
gave  little  heed  to  the  organisation  of  these  in- 
formal adherents.  To  him  they  meant  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  was  come,  and  he  did  not  enrol 
them  as  devotees,  but  as  men  and  women  who 
obeyed  the  call  to  repentance. 

It  was  not  till  ten  years  later  that  the  Pope 
subjected  them  to  a  Rule  and  to  observances,  which 
bound  them  together  for  convenient  employment 
by  the  Church.  No  longer,  after  1221,  were  they 
to  be  considered  as  leaven  whose  contact  would 
spread  abroad  the  gospel  fermentation,  but  rather 
as  a  body  set  apart  for  definite  devotional  purposes 
not  to  be  expected  from  the  world  at  large.  After 
the  saint's  death  they  were  still  further  separated 
and  constrained,  and  we  may  accept  M.  Sabatier's 
surmise,  based  upon  exhaustive  research,  that  the 
date  of  this  second  and  stricter  organisation  belongs 
to  one  of  the  years  between  March,  1228,  and  No- 
vember, 1234.  St.  Francis  was  averse  to  their  first 
enrolment,  and  only  submitted  to  Cardinal  Ugolino's 
advice  because  of  some  laxity  in  the  so  -  called 
^^  Third  Order,"  due  to  his  absence  in  the  East,  but 
his  consent  to  every  step  taken  for  the  furtherance 
of  papal  control  was  wrung  from  his  unaccording 
judgment  by  Jorce  majeure. 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  121 

But  during  the  first  months  of  1212  he  found 
himself  face  to  fa.ce  with  a  new  departure.  Near 
the  church  of  San  Giorgio  rose  upon  massive 
foundations  the  storied  palace  of  Favorino  degh 
Sciffi,  Count  of  San  Savino  and  of  Sasso  Rosso.  To 
this  day  its  walls  endure,  arching  across  the  street 
on  both  of  whose  sides  they  stand.  Close  to  the 
Communal  Palace,  to  the  Uuomo,  to  the  Porta 
Nuova,  its  site  commanded  all  municipal  stir  and 
movement  as  well  as  the  southern  and  eastern 
gates  of  Assisi. 

Count  Favorino  was  a  strong  man,  who  possessed 
himself  of  Sasso  Rosso  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
Gisleri,  and  held  it  for  himself  or  for  the  commune. 
During  winter  he  lived  in  tlie  town  with  his  family, 
of  whose  members  we  become  acquainted  with  four. 
These  were  his  wife — a  lady  of  the  old  house  of 
Fiume,  her  own  name  Ortolana — and  his  three 
daughters,  Clare,  Agnes  and  Beatrice.  The  eldest 
of  these,  Clare,  was  now  eighteen  years  of  age. 
From  childhood  she  had  manifested  an  exceptional 
devoutness,  coupled  with  great  tenderness  towards 
the  needy  and  suffering,  as  well  as  much  strength 
of  character,  by  which  she  impressed  and  even 
swayed  those  in  contact  with  her.  Clare  was 
familiar  with  the  whole  history  of  Bernardone's 
son,  although  but  a  child  when  he  renounced  the 
world.  She,  too,  felt  the  hunger  within  for  more 
than  meat.  She  went  to  hear  him  preach  in  San 
Giorgio  and  in  the  Duomo,  whither  she  was  accom- 
panied by  her  aunt,  Pacifica  dei  Guelfucci,  a  pious 


122  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

woman,   to  whom  she  could  confide   her  spiritual 
longings.     Some  home  trouble  increased  her  aver- 
sion to  the  world  ;  probably  Count  Favorino's  inten- 
tion to  wed  her  to  a  suitor  whom  her  beauty  and 
dower  attracted,  but  who  was  antipathetic  to  her 
nature.      Her  heart  was  given  to  God,  the  life  of 
poverty  filled  her  day-dreams  as  a  shining  pathway 
to  the  world  of  light ;  perhaps  her  home  offered  no 
counter-attraction.      She  longed  to  leave  a  sphere 
where  she  was  little  needed,  and  which  could  not 
satisfy  her  ardent  mind.     With  what  expansion  of 
soul  she  would  walk  in  the  way  found  by  Francis, 
if  only  she  might  be  admitted.      She  meditated  his 
words   of  fiame,    his  conviction,  his  joy.      He  was 
the  one  human  being  she  had  ever  seen  in  whom 
Christ  was  lifted  up,  the  one  man  in  whom  faith 
throbbed,  about  whom  a  celestial  light  trembled, 
who  bore  in  his  very  aspect  the  credentials  of  God's 
herald.     And  his  message  was  a  Divine  command. 
She  induced  her  aunt  to  go  with  her  to  Francis, 
to   whom  she  told  her  need.      He  bade  her  wait 
and  pray.     Again  she  saw  him  and  entreated  for 
admittance  into  the  service  of  poverty.      He  pointed 
out  its  hardships,  its  austerities  inconceivable  to  one 
so  gently  nurtured,  but  her  eyes  glowed  at  the  pro- 
spect and  he  understood  that  she  was  called  of  God. 
So  at   last   he   consented,  and  fixed  the  night  of 
Easter  Sunday,  18th  March,  1212,  for  her  reception. 
Her  aunt  and  a  friend  called  Madonna  Bona  agreed 
to  bring  her  to  the  Portiuncula.     Apparently  Count 
Favorino  was  ignorant  of  his  daughter's  resolution. 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  123 

but  we  can  hardly  imagine  that  her  mother  knew 
nothing,  for  she  herself  was  a  devout  woman,  whose 
heart  turned  altogether  in  later  years  towards  the 
same  life  of  poverty  and  labour.  For  Francis  the 
moment  must  have  been  critical.  He  was  a  deacon 
in  orders,  it  is  true,  but  there  was  no  provision  made 
in  his  plan  for  the  admission  of  a  woman.  M. 
Sabatier  calls  our  attention  to  his  masterly  treat- 
ment of  the  situation.  Brother  Sylvester  was  Clare's 
relative,  and  another  follower  was  a  friend  of  her 
family.  Perhaps  he  took  counsel  with  them,  but 
it  is  more  likely  that  he  understood  at  once  the 
value  of  such  an  adhesion,  the  need  of  holy  woman- 
hood to  complete  and  perfect  the  work  of  holy 
manhood,  the  infinitely  greater  influence  on  the 
world  of  a  spirituality  to  which  both  minds,  con- 
secrated and  sanctified,  might  contribute  all  that 
makes  each  the  complement  of  the  other.  Women 
were  the  healers  and  consolers  of  men  when  these 
were  bruised  and  baffled.  They  were  skilled  in 
nursing,  in  cooking,  in  needlework.  Their  hearts 
went  out  in  sympathy,  their  minds  were  swift,  their 
powers  of  observation  keen.  They  were  more  open 
to  the  light  from  heaven  than  men,  capable  of  in- 
sight for  which  they  could  not  account,  and  if  apt 
to  peril  their  souls  in  the  world,  surely  blessed  with 
a  celestial  purity  when  they  lived  within  the  fear 
and  the  love  of  God.  He  had  looked  into  the 
depths  of  Clare's  candid  nature.  He  saw  more 
there  than  the  (jualities  common  to  all  women 
whose  gifts  have  not   been  wasted  on  paltry  and 


124  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

selfish  aims.  He  recognised  her  lofty  mind,  her 
power  of  enduring  for  Christ's  sake,  her  wisdom 
and  restraint,  her  courage  and  supreme  spiritual 
health.  He  felt  that  she  was  given  by  God  to  lead 
women  into  the  way  of  Christ  as  he  led  men. 

There  was  no  hindrance  to  her  admission,  for  her 
father  s  consent  was  not  required,  but  it  was  neces- 
sary to  find  a  home  for  her  until  the  new  way 
opened.  So  he  went  to  San  Paolo,  near  Bastia, 
and  made  arrangements  with  the  Benedictine 
prioress  for  her  residence  until  a  permanent  settle- 
ment could  be  secured. 

After  midnight,  Clare  and  her  companions  left 
her  father's  house,  stealing  out  of  an  arched  door- 
way, still  pointed  out  amongst  several  close  together 
and  the  narrowest  of  them  all.  Silently  they  passed 
down  to  the  Porta  Mojano,  whence  the  road  led, 
with  two  sharp  turns,  to  the  Portiuncula.  How 
solemn  their  flight  must  have  been,  shrouded  in 
darkness,  amongst  the  spectral  olives,  the  budding 
oaks  and  elms,  past  a  farmhouse  or  two,  and  past 
the  hospital  of  San  Salvatore  delle  Pareti — built 
by  the  congregation  of  the  Cross-bearers  half-way 
between  the  city  and  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli — 
the  young  girl  absorbed  with  the  joy  of  her  voca- 
tion, the  older  women  half  afraid  but  wholly 
dominated  by  her  will.  Along  the  mile  of  straight 
road  they  sped,  reaching  the  sanctuary  just  as 
Francis  and  his  followers  were  at  matins  in  the  first 
hours  of  Easter  Monday.  The  brothers,  with  lighted 
candles   in  their  hands,  came  out   two   by  two   to 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  125 

receive  her,  and  led  her  to  the  altar.  There  Francis 
celebrated  mass,  and  there  they  knelt  until  the  last 
"  Amen"  rose  to  heaven.  And  then  he  read  aloud 
the  stern  law  of  poverty  and  labour,  the  gospel 
Rule,  whose  clauses  might  not  be  violated.  Clare 
bowed  her  head  in  token  of  obedience,  an  obedi- 
ence unrelaxed  during  her  forty-one  years  of  further 
life.  Francis,  on  whom  the  tonsure  had  been  forced 
by  Innocent,  cut  off  her  hair  and  left  it  on  the  altar. 
Her  rich  robes  and  mantle  were  relinquished,  and, 
clad  in  a  grey  gown  and  black  veil,  Clare  began  to 
live  a  poor  Sister  of  Penitence.  Surely  some  spasm 
of  pain  wrung  the  heart  of  Francis  as  he  consecrated 
her  to  poverty  in  the  morning  of  her  youth  and 
beauty,  but  he  had  no  misgiving  about  the  step,  for 
he  had  none  about  God's  will. 

The  two  trembling  women  bade  their  charge  fare- 
well and  turned  back  to  the  city,  apprehension  at 
their  hearts.  And  Francis  led  Clare  westwards  on 
their  long  walk  to  San  Paolo,  while  the  dawn  stole 
up  behind  Foligno  and  Trevi  and  lighted  them  as 
they  stood  at  the  convent  door. 

How  these  two  hours  were  occupied  we  long  to 
know — perhaps  for  most  of  the  way  in  holy  silence 
and  in  prayer,  and  towards  the  end  in  gentle  en- 
couragement and  counsel  from  Saint  Francis. 
Nothing  is  so  saintly  as  a  saint's  bearing  towards 
women,  that  mingled  appreciation,  affection  and 
reverence  divine  in  its  character,  which  a  pure 
womanly  soul  repays  with  devotion  untainted  by 
vanity  or  eartlily  soilure.  Such  a  friendship  is  filled 
with  God  and  is  immortal. 


126  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Next  day  Clare's  father  arrived  at  San  Paolo, 
accompanied  by  several  friends,  and  determined  to 
take  her  home,  but  his  reproaches  and  entreaties 
were  of  no  avail.  The  prioress,  however,  dis- 
approved of  such  scenes,  or  perhaps  feared  Count 
Favorino,  and  Clare  was  transferred  to  the  convent 
of  Sant'Angelo  in  Panso,  within  the  city,  where 
now  stands  the  Diocesan  Seminary.  Hither,  a  week 
later,  her  sister  Agnes  fled  from  the  unquiet  home 
to  join  her,  and  received  the  tonsure  from  Saint 
Francis.  Count  Favorino,  with  a  number  of  male 
relatives,  rushed  to  the  convent,  and  in  his  fury 
struck  the  child  repeatedly,  dragging  her  away  by 
force.  But  Clare  came  to  her  rescue  as  she  fainted, 
and  Favorino  found  her  suddenly  so  heavy  in  his 
arms  that  he  dropped  her  in  the  field  adjoining  the 
convent,  which  stood  close  to  one  of  the  city  gates 
towards  the  north. 

There,  too,  the  sisters  were  vexed  by  hostile 
influences  witliin  the  walls,  as  well  as  by  their 
father's  anger.  Francis  was  sore  put  to  it  to  find 
them  a  quiet  retreat,  where  they  could  practise 
their  vows  in  peace.  He  thought  of  San  Damiano, 
secluded  amongst  trees,  and  applied  once  more  to 
his  friend  the  Benedictine  abbot.  For  the  monks, 
the  time  was  one  of  crisis.  Their  number  was 
reduced  to  eight  ;  some  of  their  monasteries  had 
been  sacked  by  the  people  during  recent  years  of 
war  and  revolt  ;  they  had  sought  in  vain  to  pro- 
pitiate Assisi  by  the  gift  of  the  Portico  of  Minerva  ; 
they  were  anxious  to  reinstate  themselves  in  popular 


THE  THREE  ORDERS  127 

esteem  forfeited  by  their  degeneration  from  the  early 
standard  of  monastic  Hfe.  Francis  was  venerated  by 
the  citizens,  and  they  gladly  granted  his  request  for 
a  building  which  they  had  ceased  to  use,  and  whose 
ruined  walls  he  had  restored  with  his  own  hands. 

To  San  Damiano  the  two  sisters  were  conducted, 
and  there  they  were  joined  by  several  other  noble 
ladies  of  Assist,  and  some  years  later  by  their  sister 
Beatrice,  their  mother  and  their  Aunt  Pacifica. 
Clare  was  made  Superior  of  the  Poor  Sisters  of 
Penitence,  and  part  of  the  gospel  Rule  was  assigned 
to  them  for  obedience.  They  were  not  required  to 
go  from  place  to  place  to  preach  and  call  men  to 
repentance,  but  their  duties  were  sufficient.  Chief 
amongst  them  were  tending  the  sick,  feeding  the 
hungry,  making  garments  for  the  naked,  distilling 
medicines  and  soothing  draughts — all  the  gracious 
ministrations  which  women  know  so  well  how  to 
render  helpful,  consolatory,  tranquillising.  They 
made  altar-cloths  and  napery  for  the  little  churches 
used  by  the  brothers,  and  for  others  fallen  into 
neglect,  and  those  amongst  them  skilled  in  em- 
broidery copied  the  flowers  in  Clare's  little  garden 
and  devised  patterns  for  their  work,  since  Francis 
loved  both  beauty  and  order  in  the  setting  of  God's 
altars.  His  chivalry  would  not  permit  these  Sisters 
of  Poverty  to  beg  from  door  to  door,  and  some  of 
his  followers  were  appointed  to  do  them  that 
service.  They  built  their  huts  near  San  Damiano  to 
be  at  hand  and  to  furnish  bread  and  vegetables  for 
their  daily  need. 


CHAPTER  V 

YEARS  OF  INCREASE 

1212—1218 

Failure  of  First  Attempts  at  Foreign  Missions — Mount 
Alverna  given  to  the  Order — Increase  of  the  Sisters  of 
Poverty — Accession  of  vScholars — Cannara  and  Bevagna 
— Sermon  to  the  Birds — First  Visit  to  Mount  Alverna 
— Missionary  Itinerary  through  Central  Italy — "  God's 
Minstrels" — Lateran  Council  of  1215 — Decree  affecting 
the  New  Orders — Innocent's  Death — Ugolino,  Bishop 
of  Ostia — The  Pentecostal  Chapters — Foreign  Missions 
— Brother  Elias — Francis  in  Rome — St.  Dominic — 
Subiaco  and  Oldest  Portrait  of  Francis — Chapter  of 
1218 — First  Murmurs  against  the  Rule — Dominic  and 
Poverty. 

THE  year  1212  was  destined  both  to  encourage 
Francis  by  an  amazing  development  of  the 
movement  which  he  had  initiated,  and  to  check  his 
premature  efforts  for  its  extension  beyond  the  seas. 
When  the  settlement  at  San  Damiano  was  provided 
for  in  every  detail,  and  its  young  superior  invested 
with  power  to  receive  new  applicants  for  admission, 
the  brothers  were  instructed  to  bring  back  such 
women  as  they  found  truly  desirous  of  the  life  of 
poverty,  labour  and  devotion,  and  their  return  from 
preaching  was  from  time  to  time  so  signalised. 
(128) 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  129 

Francis  then,  concluding  that  the  moment  for 
missions  outside  Italy  had  arrived,  made  such  plans 
for  the  home  work  as  were  required  and  started  for 
the  coast.  This  may  have  been  in  April  or  May, 
although  it  was  probably  not  till  after  Whitsuntide. 
His  longing  was  to  convert  the  infidels  in  Palestine. 
We  are  not  told  whether  he  had  a  brother  with 
him,  for  the  details  of  this  venture  are  very  scanty, 
but  it  may  be  regarded  as  certain,  seeing  Christ  had 
so  ordained  the  conduct  of  missions. 

From  Ancona  he  took  ship  for  the  Levant,  but 
crossing  the  Adriatic  a  fierce  wind  drove  the  vessel 
either  on  an  island  or  on  the  coast  of  Dalmatia, 
then  part  of  Slavonia.  Here  Francis  lingered, 
hoping  to  find  a  passage  to  the  East,  but  none  was 
forthcoming,  and  he  had  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 
A  barque  was  being  loaded  for  Ancona,  and  he  asked 
its  master  to  take  him  on  board.  He  was  refused, 
but,  collecting  a  store  of  provisions  from  the  people 
to  whom  he  ministered  during  this  delay,  he  hid 
himself  amongst  its  bales,  and  the  seamen  were 
well  upon  their  way  before  he  was  discovered. 
Storms  drove  them  out  of  their  course,  and  their 
own  food  was  exhausted,  so  that  Francis,  emerging 
with  enough  for  them  all,  was  welcomed,  and  was 
soon  after  landed  at  Ancona.  He  made  his  way 
to  the  Portiuncula  on  foot,  arriving  in  time  for  the 
Christmas  gathering  of  the  brothers,  who  had  spent 
the  months  of  his  absence  in  home  missions.  Re- 
storation to  them  consoled  him  for  the  failure  of 
this  heroic  attempt,  for  many  new  brothers  had 
9 


130  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

joined,  amongst  whom,  perhaps,  was  Bombarone  as 
Brother  Elias,  who  for  some  years  was  his  zealous 
disciple. 

For   1213  he  planned  an    extensive  missionary 
tour  in   Central    Italy,  assigning   its   districts  to  his 
followers    in    pairs,   and   taking   Brother  Leo  with 
himself  to  Romagna.     He  is  said  to  have  spent  the 
Lent  of  this  year  in  solitude,  fasting  and  prayer,  on 
an  island  in  Lake  Thrasymene,  subsisting  on  a  half- 
loaf  during  the  whole  period  of  forty  days.     After 
Easter  he  resumed  his  itinerary,  and  arriving  at  the 
Castle  of  Montefeltro  with  Brother   Leo,  he  found 
great  bustle  of  preparation  for  a  tournament  about 
to  be   held  in  honour   of  a    newly-made    knight. 
Amongst  the  guests  was  Orlando  dei  Cattani,  Count 
of  Chiusi,  a  man  of  large  possessions  in  the  Casen- 
tino.      Entering  the   castle   court,  Francis  found  it 
filled  with  nobles  gathered  for  the   spectacle.     He 
seized  his  opportunity,  and  spoke  to  them  on  the 
words  :  ''  So  great  a  joy  do  I   await  that   every  toil 
is  my  delight."      The  guests  listened  to  him  and 
were  touched  by  his  sincerity.  Count  Orlando  drew 
him  aside  and  asked  to  be  admitted  amongst  those 
who  obeyed   Christ's  teaching  at   home,  since   his 
years  and    duties   forbade  him  to  join  the  working 
brothers. 

After  the  tournament  Francis  held  long  converse 
with  him,  and  received  him  into  the  congregation  of 
faithful  souls.  Then  Orlando  offered  him  Monte 
Alverna,  an  isolated  peak  in  the  Casentino,  as  a  re- 
treat  for  solitude,  prayer  and  contemplation,  to  be 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  131 

used  by  himself  and  the  brothers,  and  the  gift  was 
gladly  accepted. 

He  returned  to  the  Portiuncula  for  the  Pente- 
costal assembly,  at  which  reports  were  made  of 
missionary  success  and  failure  in  Central  Italy,  for 
it  may  be  noted  that  the  early  Brothers  Minor 
never  cooked  their  reports,  but  faithfully  recorded 
their  blunders  and  defeats  as  well  as  their  achieve- 
ments. 

So  large  a  body  of  followers  was  now  with  him 
that  he  mooted  a  considerable  enterprise  for  1214. 
He  and  his  brothers  spread  themselves  throughout 
Italy,  preaching  the  gospel  to  all  who  would  listen, 
up  to  Pentecost  and  after  the  general  conference. 
While  he  could  trust  them  to  carry  on  the  home 
mission,  he  made  a  second  personal  attempt  as  a 
pioneer  of  foreign  work. 

The  Kings  of  Arragon,  Navarre  and  Castille  had 
two  years  earlier  chased  across  the  Sierra  Nevada 
their  gallant  Moorish  invaders.  Spain  was  left  to 
the  Spaniard,  all  the  richer  in  art,  science  and 
education  for  its  long  period  of  submission  to  Arab 
domination.  The  exploit  roused  all  Christendom, 
and  was  deemed'  a  triumph  against  the  infidel. 
Francis  longed  to  carry  his  evangel  both  to  Spaniard 
and  Moor ;  hoped,  too,  for  martyrdom,  which  was 
then  the  ideal  goal  of  every  saint.  He  took  the 
westward  route  through  Piedmont  and  Languedoc 
that  autumn,  and  was  away  till  the  following  spring. 
This  time  we  know  that  a  brother  accompanied 
him,  because  the  legend  survives  that,  in  his  eager- 


132  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

ness  to  reach  Spain,  he  used  to  outstrip  his  companion 
and  leave  him  far  behind.  But  a  veil  falls  here 
over  the  enterprise,  and  we  only  learn  that  he  was 
so  seriously  ill  that  his  companion  brought  him 
back  again.  His  health,  broken  ever  since  1206, 
when  the  rough  treatment  which  he  suffered  on 
Monte  Subasio  sowed  the  seeds  of  constant  deli- 
cacy, was  not  improved  by  fasts  and  fatigues.  He 
came  home  saddened  by  a  second  failure,  but  con- 
vinced that  God  meant  him  for  a  time  to  work  in 
his  own  land  and  among  his  own  people. 

The  home  mission  had  achieved  unusual  success. 
Large  numbers  had  been  convinced  and  converted  ; 
many  had  joined  the  order ;  some  new  sisters  had 
been  brought  to  San  Damiano.  Not  only  there, 
but  in  other  parts  of  Umbria,  communities  of  these 
ladies  were  formed,  where  sick  persons  were  brought 
to  be  nursed,  where  work  and  worship  went  hand- 
in-hand,  where  cheerfulness  and  saintliness  were 
practised.  These  communities  retained  a  certain 
homeliness  far  removed  from  conventualism,  and 
were  altogether  different  from  the  nunneries  of 
St.  Clare,  which  took  their  place  after  her  death. 
Apparently  the  Brothers  Minor  were  also  greatly 
increased  in  1215,  and  their  settlement  must  have 
been  enlarged.  Amongst  the  new  adherents  were 
men  of  every  rank  and  character  conciliated  into 
harmony  by  the  graciousness  of  their  superior, 
whose  discerning  sympathy  evoked  from  each  all 
that  was  finest.  Thus,  we  hear  of  a  peasant  called 
John,  who,  seeing  Francis  busy  cleaning   a  dirty 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  133 

church  at  Bastia,  took  the  broom  from  him  and 
swept  it  out  with  a  will,  and  then  asked  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  order.  His  family  grudged  his  loss, 
but  Francis  won  their  consent  by  letting  them  keep 
his  portion  of  the  common  heritage.  This  John 
became  so  true  a  follower  in  the  way  of  the  Cross 
that  Francis  tenderly  spoke  of  him  as  Saint  John. 

At  the  same  season  Thomas  of  Celano  joined,  a 
man  noted  for  his  learning,  who  became  one  of  the 
saint's  biographers  after  his  death.  Other  scholars 
were  attracted  to  the  order,  and  it  is  with  some 
amusement  that  we  read  how  Thomas  of  Celano 
believed  himself  and  them  to  be  the  recipients 
of  a  special  respect  from  their  superior,  although 
his  precautionary  measures  against  property  in 
manuscripts  indicate  that  he  found  them  inclined 
to  magnify  their  knowledge  and  to  make  of  it  a 
hindrance  to  their  obedience.  It  is  possible  that 
Bombarone  was  the  medium  of  their  adhesion. 
For  some  years  prior  to  his  own  admission  he  lived 
in  Bologna,  acting  as  a  scrivener,  and  taking  so 
great  advantage  of  its  university  teaching  that 
he  was  reckoned  one  of  the  most  erudite  men  in 
Italy.  He  had  a  passion  for  learning,  crossed  by 
a  counter-passion  for  devotion,  both  underlaid  by 
lust  of  power,  intermittent  at  this  stage,  but  per- 
sistent as  Francis  lost  ground,  when  the  ebbing  of 
his  strength  gave  Brother  Elias  an  opportunity. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  to  this  group  of 
scholars,  with  Brother  Elias  at  their  head,  was 
due  the  mutiny  within  the  order  which  wrecked 


134  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

the  saint's  new  covenant   with    God,   and  which 
broke  his  heart  some  years  before  his  death. 

But,  although  the  coming  and  going  of  grey 
friars  was  now  a  daily  spectacle  on  the  roads  in 
Tuscany,  the  March,  Umbria  and  Romagna,  they 
were  not  yet  separated  into  filial  colonies,  as  was 
soon  to  be  necessary. 

When  the  Pentecostal  meetings  and  duties  were 
ended,  Francis,  suffering  from  prostration,  was  for  a 
brief  moment  disposed  to  abandon  the  active  side 
of  his  vocation.  He  consulted  Clare  and  Brother 
Sylvester,  and  received  from  them  such  resolute 
counsel  to  continue  to  save  and  to  preach  that  he 
accepted  it  as  God's  message,  and  much  heartened 
took  the  road  once  more.  He  went  to  Cannara, 
five  miles  south  of  the  Portiuncula,  and  his  ser- 
mons there  were  so  effectual  that  the  whole  village 
adopted  Christ's  Rule  as  their  own.  From  Can- 
nara he  went  further  south,  and  east  to  Bevagna. 
Brother  Leo  was  his  companion,  and  the  sympathy 
between  them,  the  beauty  of  the  ways  bordered 
with  flowers — amongst  them  the  delicate  blue  and 
white  love-in-a-mist,  which  fringes  the  hedgerows 
in  June,  blue  cornflowers,  rose-coloured  vetches, 
purple  loose-strife,  scarlet  poppies,  gay  larkspurs 
and  sheets  of  feathery  bedstraw  —  the  twitter  of 
birds  upon  the  trees,  the  fields  ripe  to  the  harvest, 
refreshed  and  uplifted  his  heart,  so  that  his  joy 
welled  over  in  song.  Where  the  birds  gathered 
he  paused,  and,  unalarmed,  they  clustered  about 
his    feet   and    on    the   branches  overhead.     In  an 


SERMON    TO    THli    BIRDS 
FroJii  Giotto's  fresco  in  the  Upper  Church  at  Assist 


YEARS  OF  INXREASE  135 

ecstasy  of  tenderness  for  his  "little  brothers"  he 
spoke  to  them  of  their  Creator^  whose  care  for 
them  deserved  their  love  and  praise.  "  For  He 
has  made  you,"  he  said,  "the  noblest  of  His 
creatures ;  He  has  given  you  the  pure  air  for  a 
home  :  you  need  neither  to  sow  nor  to  reap,  for 
He  cares  for  you,  He  protects  you,  He  leads  you 
whither  you  should  go."  And  the  birds  rejoiced 
at  his  words,  opening  their  wings  and  fluttering 
and  chirping  as  if  to  thank  him  for  rating  them 
so  precious  in  God's  sight.  Then  moving  amongst 
them,  he  blessed  them  and  went  on  his  way. 

At  Bevagna  we  see  still  the  beautiful  buildings 
he  looked  upon,  old  San  Sylvestro  and  San  Michele, 
over  whose  door  is  sculptured  the  mighty  angel 
destroying  the  dragon,  eternal  symbol  of  salvation, 
and  above  the  market-place  is  the  Church  of  San 
Francesco,  built  upon  the  spot  where  he  was  wont 
to  preach.  The  snowy  oxen  in  the  meadows  by 
the  river  Topi  no,  which  the  brothers  would  cross 
and  recross,  the  dark  bastions  of  Monte  Subasio, 
perhaps  cloud-capped  as  they  returned,  the  blue 
ranges  opposite  them,  the  greeting  and  welcome  of 
peasant  and  townsman,  willing  to  listen  to  their 
message,  all  must  have  cheered  and  stimulated  him 
to  renewed  exertions.  About  the  middle  of  August, 
he  paid  his  first  visit  to  the  stern  slopes  and  caverns 
of  Monte  Alverna.  Here  he  spent  six  weeks  in 
prayer  and  fasting,  perhaps  laying  down  at  God's 
feet  his  longings  for  work  abroad,  for  martyrdom, 
making  a  heroic  sacrifice  of  those  spiritual  ambitions 


136  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

which  he  had  been  unable  to  reaHse.  For,  beyond 
the  offering  up  of  all  material  aims,  comes  that 
astonishing  experience  of  the  Will  of  God,  the 
surrender  of  sacred  ardours  and  holy  toils  which 
hasten  in  advance  of  His  command.  It  is  the 
saint's  keenest  agony  to  withhold  the  uncommis- 
sioned service,  which  his  heart  burns  within  him 
to  be  about. 

In  October  he  renewed  his  itinerary,  passing  by 
Alviano,  where  crowds  gathered  to  hear  him,  and 
where  the  wheeling  swallows  made  so  much  noise 
that  his  voice  was  drowned,  until  he  bade  them  be 
still  and  hear  the  word  of  God.  Narni  and  the 
villages  in  its  neighbourhood  ;  Rieti  and  its  beloved 
valley ;  Monte  Colombo,  where  one  Christmas  Eve 
he  made  the  first  praesepio  of  manger,  ox,  ass  and 
babe,  and  was  himself  astonished  when  the  Child 
smiled  up  in  his  face  as  the  Infant  Jesus  might  have 
done;  Sant,  Eleuthero,  Poggio-Buscone,  were  his 
next  halting-places.  From  them  he  passed  to  the 
March  of  Ancona,  where  the  Brothers  Minor  were 
best  received,  and  where  already  many  hermitages 
were  filled  with  the  apostles  of  poverty.  The  pro- 
vince of  Ascoli  seems  to  have  been  visited  late  in 
the  autumn.  About  thirty  new  adherents  formed 
the  immediate  harvest  of  this  mission,  and  amongst 
them  was  Brother  Pacifico,  a  poet  and  musician, 
who  was  of  great  service  to  Francis  in  regulating 
the  music  for  their  functions,  and  whom  he  en- 
couraged in  composing  songs  to  be  sung  in  the 
market-places,  so  as  to  gather  together  the  villagers 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  137 

and  townsfolk.  "  God's  Minstrels "  he  called 
Pacifico  and  his  band. 

In  November,  Pope  Innocent  held  his  famous 
Council  at  the  Lateran,  when  seventy  decrees  were 
promulgated  on  Church  discipline  and  doctrine,  one 
of  them  annulling  all  religious  orders  which  were 
not  subservient  to  the  Rule  of  either  Augustine  or 
Benedict.  St.  Dominic  was  in  Rome  seeking  the 
Pope's  authorisation  of  his  new  order,  and  in 
obedience  to  this  decree  he  accepted  the  Rule  of 
St.  Augustine  for  his  followers.  We  do  not  know 
how  Francis  warded  off  the  interference  of  this 
ordinance,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  escaped  its 
working. 

Not  long  after  the  Council,  civic  hostility  com- 
pelled Innocent  to  leave  Rome,  and  he  found  an 
asylum  in  Perugia,  where  the  papal  court  was 
graphically  depicted  by  Jacques  de  Vitry,  who 
visited  it  there,  and  who  contrasts  its  infamies  with 
the  charity,  humility  and  orderliness  of  the  Brothers 
and  Sisters  of  Poverty,  to  whom  he  was  greatly 
attracted.  Francis  was  summoned  to  Perugia,  pro- 
bably because  of  his  reluctance  to  obey  the  decree. 
He  and  other  friars  were  there  when  Innocent  died 
and  when  Honorius  was  elected  Pope.  The  death- 
bed was  deserted,  the  corpse  was  denied  the 
commonest  care.  They  were  Brothers  Minor  who 
washed  and  clothed  his  body,  guarding  it  with 
pious  offices  until  the  time  of  burial.  Cardinal 
Colonna  had  died  in  May,  two  months  before  Inno- 
cent, bequeathing  his  care  for  Francis  to  Ugolino, 


138  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Bishop  of  Ostia,  who  became  sincerely  attached  to 
his  charge.  Ah-eady^  in  1216,  he  attended  the 
Pentecostal  gatherings  at  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli. 
The  saint  willingly  accepted  his  friendship — his 
shrewdness  somewhat  at  fault — for  he  did  not  at 
first  detect  beneath  it  Ugolino's  far-sighted  scheme, 
carried  out  by  means  of  unwearied  patience,  subtle 
assault  and  the  help  of  Brother  Elias. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Whitsuntide  Chapter  had 
consisted  of  a  joyous  reunion  of  all  the  brothers  for 
fellowship,  spiritual  refi-eshment,  communion  in 
worship,  counsel  taken  and  given,  interchange  of 
reports,  receiving  neophytes,  and  their  superior's 
guidance  both  in  general  and  particular  difficulties. 
But  from  the  time  of  Ugolino's  patronage  these 
meetings  slowly  but  surely  changed  their  character. 
M.  Sabatier  points  out  that  the  gradual  transfor- 
mation took  place  between  the  summers  of  121 6 
and  1220,  by  which  latter  year  Francis  found 
himself  enmeshed  in  a  network  of  control,  so  skil- 
fully woven  that  at  first  it  seemed  as  fragile  as  a 
summer  gossamer. 

His  struggle  for  independence  was  vain.  Papal 
mandates  could  not  bind  him,  but  papal  craft 
availed.  Not  for  several  years  did  he  recognise  the 
drift  of  Ugolino's  gentle  pressure  ;  but  his  dis- 
covery of  treachery  within  the  camp,  of  discontent, 
of  needs  and  demands  injurious  to  the  "  new 
covenant,"  false  to  the  espousal  vows,  disloyal  to 
the  Lady  Poverty,  began  earlier  and  was  a  pur- 
gatorial   agony.       In   the   meantime    Ugolino   was 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  139 

magnetised  by  his  holy  living,  his  rare  spirituality, 
and  we  find  in  his  bearing  towards  Francis  a  per- 
plexing mixture  of  personal  devotion  and  of  untir- 
ing intrigue  directed  against  the  very  work  which 
God  had  separated  him  from  the  world  to  do.  What 
Francis  needed  for  that  work  was  freedom  ;  what 
the  Curia  could  not  tolerate  was  a  power  outside 
their  control.  The  order  had  become  such  a  power, 
and  so  the  fiat  went  forth  that  it  must  be  captured 
and  bridled  and  tamed. 

The  papal  court  was  established  for  some  time 
at  Perugia,  where  Honorius  was  elected  Pope 
on  18th  July,  1216,  immediately  after  Innocent's 
death.  This  Pontiff,  less  haughty  than  his  prede- 
cessor, was  eager  for  a  new  crusade,  and  his  legates 
were  commissioned  to  rekindle  European  fervour 
for  the  recovery  of  Palestine.  His  character  was 
venerable  for  its  saintliness,  the  simplicity  of  his 
personal  habits,  his  dislike  of  pomp  and  display. 
For  a  time  Francis  saw  in  him  the  saviour  of  the 
Church.  He  felt  sure  of  consideration  and  support 
for  his  ideal  from  Honorius. 

He  had  a  new  inspiration  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  which  required  papal  sanction.  Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli  was  very  dear  to  his  heart ;  its  walls — 
repaired  by  his  own  hands — were  sacred  as  the  walls 
of  Sion.  God's  purposes  took  shape  within  them. 
Prayer  there  was  never  in  vain.  The  presence  of 
the  Most  High  filled  the  tiny  temple,  and  when  the 
brothers  knelt  there  they  felt  the  pressure  of  His 
hand   upon  their  brows.      Might  it  not  become  a 


140  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

mercy-seat,  whence  pardon  would  flow  to  the  peni- 
tent? Might  sinners  not  pass  from  its  doors,  sealed 
with  Divine  forgiveness,  and  so  set  free  to  walk  in 
the  way  of  life  ?  He  took  Brother  Leo  with  him  to 
Perugia  and  sought  an  audience  of  the  new  Pope. 

A  week  of  devotion  in  remembrance  of  the  con- 
secration of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  was  at  hand. 
He  asked  Honorius  to  grant  a  pardon  to  all  its 
worshippers  during  that  week  till  the  end  of  time. 
As  Vicar  of  Christ  he  must  know  Christ's  mind  upon 
the  matter.  But  Popes  were  not  used  to  bestowing 
spiritual  gifts  without  money  and  without  price,  and 
even  Honorius  was  startled.  Then,  as  the  absolute 
selflessness  of  Francis  dawned  on  him,  he  was  moved 
by  a  like  holy  love  to  grant  the  boon  required, 
although  at  the  complaining  of  the  cardinals — who 
were  indignant  at  such  reckless  waste — he  limited 
its  action  to  one  day  out  of  the  seven.  When, 
radiant  with  joy,  the  saint  turned  to  go,  Honorius 
cried :  "  Oh,  simple  one,  whither  dost  thou  hasten 
without  the  charter  of  thy  indulgence  ?  " 

"  If  it  is  God's  giving,"  said  Francis,  "  He  will 
make  it  manifest.  I  need  no  testimonial.  Let  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  be  the  charter,  Christ  the 
notary  and  angels  the  witnesses." 

At  the  Whitsuntide  Chapter  of  1217  so  great  a 
crowd  of  friars  assembled  that  huts  of  reeds  and 
canes  were  raised,  roofed  with  branches  and  carpeted 
with  mats  of  woven  rushes,  for  their  accommodation. 

We  infer  that  these  representatives  came  from 
new  communities  of  the  Brothers  Minor,  but  there 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  141 

is  yet  no  allusion  to  any  except  the  original  settle- 
ment. We  know  nothing  of  what  occupied  Francis 
from  the  summer  of  12l6  to  that  of  1217,  although 
we  may  suppose  that  the  astonishing  increase  in  his 
following  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  send  out 
bodies  of  friars  under  trusted  directors  to  such  pro- 
vinces as  the  March,  Tuscany  and  Ascoli. 

But  all  who  know  Umbria  can  form  some  idea  of 
the  great  gathering  on  the  plain ;  of  colonies  of 
green  shelters ;  of  the  strangers  present,  drawn  by 
the  extraordinary  success  of  the  movement ;  of  the 
crowds  of  villagers  from  Bastia,  Bevagna  and  Can- 
nara,  bringing  bread  and  vegetables,  oil  and  wine, 
eggs  and  poultry,  fruit  and  fodder ;  of  townspeople 
from  Spello,  Foligno,  Perugia,  all  in  festal  dress, 
seeking  the  shrine  which  Francis  and  his  com- 
panions had  made  so  sacred.  And  from  Perugia, 
too,  rode  daily  Bishop  Ugolino,  the  friars  going 
out  in  procession  to  meet  him  a  little  way  from  the 
church,  when  he  dismounted  and  walked  at  their 
head  to  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  celebrating  high 
mass  there  and  preaching,  while  Francis  chanted 
the  gospel  for  the  day  as  his  deacon.  The  bishop 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  scene  ;  he  saw  the 
brothers  still  moved  by  willing  obedience  to  their 
Rule,  passing  to  and  fro  amongst  the  people,  heal- 
ing their  sick,  listening  to  their  perplexities  and 
confessions,  ministering  to  the  lepers  near  at  hand, 
ever  joyous,  accessible,  humble.  '^  Truly,"  he  said, 
''these  are  the  camps  of  God."  A  vast  scheme  of 
foreign  missions  was  proposed.       Friars  were  sent 


142  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

to  Spain,  to  Germany,  to  Hun<Tary  and  to  Syria. 
Each  party  was  placed  under  wise  guidance,  but 
apparently  Francis  lost  sight  of  the  language  diffi- 
culty. For  in  Spain  and  France  men  spoke  Pro- 
vencal, or  some  tongue  akin  to  it,  and  he  ignored 
the  backward  civilisation  of  Germany  and  his 
brothers'  ignorance  of  its  uncouth  dialects. 

Brother  Elias  comes  to  the  front  in  these  pre- 
parations. He  had  shown  great  ability  in  his  con- 
duct of  some  business  at  Florence,  and  Francis  gave 
him  charge  of  a  special  mission  to  the  Holy  Land. 
The  remembrance  of  his  own  failures  weighed  on 
his  mind  and  checked  his  going.  In  great  humility 
he  decided  to  choose  for  himself  a  country  nearer 
home.  France  attracted  him,  because  he  was 
already  familiar  with  its  southern  provinces  and 
could  use  its  language  fluently.  He  selected  some 
of  his  followers  to  accompany  him,  particularly 
Brother  Pacifico  and  his  minstrels.  They  prepared 
in  solitude  and  prayer,  probably  retiring  to  the  caves 
and  shrines  of  the  Carceri,  for  his  words  at  starting 
breathe  the  very  spirit  of  retreat.  "Go,  two  by 
two,"  he  said,  "  humble  and  gentle,  keeping  silence 
until  the  third  hour,  praying  to  God  in  your  hearts, 
speaking  no  idle  word.  Be  as  withdrawn  during 
this  journey  as  if  you  were  shut  up  in  a  hermitage, 
or  in  your  cell,  for  wherever  we  are  and  go,  we  bear 
our  cell  along  with  us  :  brother  body  is  our  cell  and 
the  soul  is  its  hermit  praying  to  the  Lord  and  medi- 
tating within  it." 

But  when  they  reached  Florence,  Ugolino,  now 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  143 

a  cardinal  and  the  Pope's  legate  in  Tuscany,  refused 
to  allow  him  to  leave  Italy  on  the  ground  of  diffi- 
culties at  the  papal  court  concerning  his  order. 
In  vain  did  Francis  remonstrate  with  the  cardinal, 
arguing  with  sacred  passion  that  not  for  Italy  alone 
were  the  friars  called  of  God,  but  for  all  nations, 
whether  Christian  or  infidel.  Ugolino  was  firm,  and 
convinced  that  he  was  bidden  from  above  to  re- 
nounce this  dear  project,  the  saint  gave  way  and 
mournfully  returned  to  the  plain,  there  to  await 
the  issue. 

His  companions  were  sent  to  France,  Brother 
Pacifico  at  their  head,  because  his  gifts  of  music 
and  poetic  improvisation  fitted  him  for  a  land 
familiar  with  wandering  troubadours,  whose  love- 
lays  might  be  replaced  with  the  joyful  chant  of 
salvation.  "  The  Minstrels  of  God  "  would  not  fail 
of  a  hearing  in  France. 

When  the  various  missionary  parties  returned 
some  had  doleful  failures  to  report.  In  Germany 
and  Hungary  they  were  roughly  treated,  and  their 
language  of  gesture  and  kind  deeds  did  not  suffice 
to  explain  their  aim.  In  deep  depression  they  re- 
turned to  the  Umbrian  plain.  Those  sent  to  Spain 
fared  somewhat  better,  for,  although  taken  for  here- 
tics by  the  Spaniards,  the  Queen  of  Portugal  received 
them  kindly  and  allowed  them  to  form  settlements 
at  Lisbon,  Coimbra  and  elsewhere. 

Pacifico  and  his  companions  succeeded  best  of 
all.  They  passed  up  from  Southern  France  to  Paris 
and  settled  at  St.  Denis,  where  so  great  was  the 


144  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

attraction  of  their  minstrelsy,  their  preaching  and 
their  lives,  that  many  gathered  round  them,  and 
they  were  able  to  send  home  an  encouraging  re- 
port. This  success  led  Francis  to  appoint  Pacifico 
director  of  the  order  in  France,  and  four  years  later 
to  send  one  of  his  fellow-workers,  Agnello  di  Pisa, 
as  head  of  a  mission  to  England. 

During  that  winter,  probably  early  in  1218, 
Francis  was  in  Rome  and  preached  before  Pope 
Honorius.  At  Cardinal  Ugolino's  suggestion,  he 
had  for  once  carefully  prepared  his  sermon,  but 
forgot  it  wholly  in  presence  of  his  congregation,  so, 
with  a  cry  to  God  for  inspiration,  he  spoke  as  he 
was  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  both  Pope  and 
cardinals  were  melted  to  tears.  Cardinal  Ugolino 
saw  much  of  him,  and  was  doubtless  the  cause  of 
his  visit  to  the  capital,  for  the  Curia  was  occupied 
with  the  question  of  the  new  orders,  and  the 
Franciscan  Missions,  commissioned  to  preach  the 
gospel  and  not  the  crusade,  made  its  members 
uneasy. 

Dominic,  too,  was  in  Rome,  favoured  by  Honorius, 
since  his  order  was  bridled  by  monastic  Rule,  al- 
though appointed  to  go  into  all  countries  to  pro- 
claim the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  But  in  1218 
the  Dominicans  were  not  a  power  in  Europe  as  the 
Franciscans  had  become.  Ugolino  pressed  upon 
Dominic  the  influence  of  poverty  and  self-denial, 
and  may  have  suggested  his  combining  with  Francis, 
so  as  to  modify  the  evangelistic  fervour  of  the 
Brothers  Minor,  and  to  induce  them  to  adopt  the 


•^-\-'%,-  r'-r^j'-fj 


^_ 


r 


FRANCIS    I-KEACHIXG    BEFORK    POfE    HONORIUS    III 
/•>(';;i  Giotto' s  fresco  in  the  Upper  Churih  at  Assist 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  145 

Rule  of  St.  Augustine.  This  union  Dominic  pro- 
posed to  Francis,  who  gently  refused  it,  aware  of 
what  it  involved.  None  the  less,  the  two  orders 
were  destined  to  interpenetrate  and  influence  each 
other,  although  not  until  Francis  lost  his  power 
over  the  Brothers  Minor.  But  the  founders  loved 
each  other  and  edified  each  other,  and  Dominic 
promised  to  be  present  at  the  Chapter  of  1218. 

It  may  have  been  in  the  spring  of  this  year  that 
Francis  went  to  Subiaco  and  spent  some  days  or  even 
weeks  in  the  monastery  built  over  the  cavern  where 
Benedict  first  found  refuge  from  the  world.  He 
had  a  friend  there.  Brother  Oddo,  a  man  acquainted 
with  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  who  perhaps  once 
lived  in  the  monastery  on  Monte  Subasio. 

The  chapel  of  San  Gregorio  was  added  to  the 
Middle  Church  of  the  Holy  Cave  by  Cardinal 
Ugolino  when  he  became  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  and 
Brother  Oddo,  who  was  an  artist,  contributed  a 
portrait  of  St.  Francis  to  its  decoration,  which  was 
the  work  of  Benedictine  monks.  Different  dates 
have  been  assigned  for  this  portrait,  but  although 
we  are  led  to  infer  that  the  chapel  was  not  begun 
till  1227,  a  year  after  his  death,  the  fact  that 
Francis  is  represented  with  neither  stigmata  nor 
halo  indicates  that  Oddo  must  have  painted  it 
from  a  portrait  taken  before  1224,  and  leads  us 
to  regard  this  as  his  only  authentic  likeness.  He 
is  called  "  Brother  Francis,"  not  St.  Francis,  in  the 
inscription. 

It  is  low  on  the  wall  to  our  right  as  we  enter 
10 


146  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

the  chapel.  It  is  not  more  than  thirty  inches  in 
length,  and  shows  him  thin  and  fragile,  clad  in  the 
grey  gown  of  his  order,  with  its  hood  drawn  over 
his  head,  and  a  cord,  whose  ends  are  knotted  seven 
times,  round  his  waist.  His  eyes  are  full  of  power, 
and  suggest  a  year  prior  to  his  blindness.  His 
right  hand  lies  on  his  breast,  his  left  arm  hangs 
down,  the  hand  holding  a  scroll  on  which  are  the 
words  "  Pax  hide  Dumid  ".  A  tiny  figure  kneels  at 
his  feet,  that  of  the  aged  monk  who  painted  him, 
and  who,  with  Brother  Romanus,  executed  most  of 
the  frescoes  on  the  chapel  walls.  Their  names  are 
on  an  arch  behind  the  present  altar-piece,  and 
Frater  Oddo  has  added  to  his  the  words :  "  Dies 
Mei  Traiisierunt".  So  that  he  was  an  old  man 
when  he  bequeathed  to  us  this  priceless  portrait. 

There  are  traces  of  an  itinerary  still  further  south 
in  the  spring  of  1218,  and  of  visits  to  the  valley  of 
Rieti,  to  Siena  and  to  Bologna.  He  and  his  com- 
panion spent  Lent  at  Monte  Alverna. 

The  Chapter  of  Whitsuntide,  1218,  was  even  more 
important  than  that  of  the  previous  summer.  It 
was  crowded  with  representatives  from  all  Italy, 
from  France,  from  far  Portugal  and  Syria.  The 
news  from  Palestine  was  most  cheering.  Brother 
Elias  and  his  colleagues  were  well  received  by  the 
Mussulmans,  who  recognised  their  methods  and 
would  deem  their  poverty  sacred.  An  important 
recruit  had  been  gained  in  the  person  of  Caesar  of 
Speyer,  who  three  years  afterwards  conducted  a 
mission   to   South  Germany  with  amazing  success. 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  147 

His  friendship  for  Elias  at  this  time  is  a  proof  of 
the  latter's  fidelity  to  the  Rule,  as  later  he  bitterly 
opposed  him  for  revolutionising  the  order.  But  we 
can  read  between  the  lines  how  Elias'  temporally 
absence  from  Francis  and  comparative  independence 
widened  the  little  inevitable  rift  between  their  ideals. 
Cardinal  Ugolino  and  Dominic  were  present  at 
this  Chapter  and  some  five  thousand  Brothers 
Minor  and  members  of  the  Third  Order.  Ugolino 
was  anxious  that  Dominic  should  apprehend  the 
secret  of  this  success,  and  he  hoped  to  convince 
Francis  that  the  learning  and  research  essential  to 
the  Dominicans  would  be  of  use  to  the  Franciscans, 
Amongst  the  latter  were  some  students,  who  re- 
gretted the  loss  of  their  books,  and  who  complained 
that  they  were  compelled  to  forego  the  possession 
of  even  a  psalter  or  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures.  For 
their  superior  "  sorrowed  to  see  the  knowledge  that 
puffeth  up  sought  after  to  the  neglect  of  godliness," 
and  said  :  "  Many  brethren  there  be  that  set  all 
their  study  and  all  their  care  upon  acquiring  know- 
ledge, letting  go  their  holy  calling  by  wandering 
forth  in  mind  and  body  beyond  the  way  of  humility 
and  holy  prayer ;  who,  when  they  have  preached  to 
the  people,  and  have  learnt  that  some  have  thereby 
been  edified  and  converted  to  repentance,  are  in- 
continent, puffed  up,  and  extol  themselves  upon 
their  work  and  the  gain  of  another,  as  if  it  had 
been  their  own  gain ;  when  nevertheless  they  have 
preached  rather  to  their  own  condemnation  and 
harm,  and  have  done  nothing  for  themselves  accord- 


148  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

ing  to  the  truth,  save  only  as  the  instruments  of 
them  through  whom  in  truth  the  Lord  has  gathered 
in  this  harvest,  for  them  that  they  believe  to  be 
edified  and  converted  to  repentance  by  their  know- 
ledge and  preaching,  the  Lord  doth  in  truth  edify 
and  convert  by  the  prayers  of  the  holy,  poor, 
humble  and  simple  brethren,  albeit  the  holy  bre- 
thren for  the  most  part  know  not  aught  thereof, 
for  thus  is  it  the  will  of  God  they  should  not  know, 
lest  haply  they  might  pride  themselves  thereon." 

Ugolino  sympathised  with  the  murmurs  rather 
than  with  these  masterly  arguments,  cogent  to-day 
as  they  were  then.  He  went  to  Francis,  hoping  to 
make  it  clear  to  him  that  such  an  institution  as 
the  Brothers  Minor  could  not  be  worked  on  so 
self-denying  an  ordinance  as  the  gospel  Rule. 
"  Surely,"  he  urged,  "  your  wisest  and  best  edu- 
cated followers  should  have  some  share  in  your 
counsels  —  should  be  consulted  and  give  you  the 
help  of  their  larger  knowledge.  Would  it  not  be 
well,  indeed,  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  the 
ancient  orders  ?  " 

Francis  was  only  too  well  acquainted  with  the 
plea  as  with  its  source.  He  seized  the  cardinal's 
hand  and  led  him  before  the  assembly.  ''My 
brothers,"  he  cried,  in  a  voice  vibrating  with 
emotion,  "  God  called  me  into  the  way  of  simpli- 
city and  humility.  In  that  path  He  has  revealed 
the  truth  for  me  and  for  those  who  wished  to 
follow  me ;  do  not  speak  to  me  of  the  Rule  of 
St.  Benedict,  of  St.  Augustine,  of  St.  Bernard,  nor 


YEARS  OF  INCREASE  149 

of  any  other  saint,  but  of  that  only  which  God  in 
His  mercy  willed  to  show  me,  and  through  which 
He  told  me  that  He  would  make  a  new  covenant 
with  the  world,  and  through  no  other.  God  will 
confound  you  through  your  knowledge  and  your 
wisdom.  I  have  faith  that  God  will  chasten  you, 
and  that,  whether  you  will  or  no,  you  will  be  driven 
to  understand." 

Dominic  was  amazed  at  the  spectacle  of  this  as- 
sembly, and  more  and  more  impressed  by  the  sanc- 
tity and  power  of  Francis.  His  trust  in  providence 
when  the  question  of  food  for  such  a  multitude 
arose,  and  its  response  when  peasants  and  towns- 
folk arrived  with  ample  supplies  ;  the  colony  of 
green  huts,  which  gave  to  this  meeting  the  name 
of  "  Chapter  of  the  Mats  " — a  name  suitable  to 
every  Pentecostal  gathering  of  those  years  ;  the 
cheerfulness  and  holiness  of  the  brothers,  for  at 
this  time  the  grumblers  were  but  a  small  faction  ; 
the  missionary  reports  from  distant  lands,  amongst 
them  his  own  Spain — all  told  of  the  power  latent 
in  this  new  covenant  to  save  mankind.  He  de- 
cided to  make  use  of  the  precedent  established  by 
Francis.  The  force  of  poverty  adopted  by  the 
heralds  of  God  was  an  endorsement  of  Christ's 
missionary  methods.  These  had  fallen  into  dis- 
use, if  not  disrepute,  but  here  they  were  trium- 
phantly vindicated. 

He  embraced  St.  Francis  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
acknowledged  that  clad  in  poverty  the  servants  of 
God  were  best  equipped,  and  two  years  later  he 
adopted  the  vow  of  poverty  for  his  own  order. 


CHAPTER  VI 

YEARS  OF  TROUBLE 

1218—1223 

Chapter  of  1218 — Francis  in  Egypt  and  Palestine — Changes 
made  during  his  Absence — His  Return — At  Bologna — 
Ugolino's  Management — Michaelmas  Chapter  of  1220 
— The  New  Rule — Pietro  de  Cattani  appointed  General 
— Francis  and  Dominic  in  Rome — Rule  for  the  Third 
Order — Elias  appointed  Minister-General — The  Revo- 
lution of  the  Order — The  Rule  of  1223. 

FRANCIS  yielded  to  Cardinal  Ugolino's  counsel 
on  one  point  at  the  Chapter  of  1218. 

The  brothers,  rejected  in  Germany  and  Hungary, 
made  their  pitiful  report.  Ugolino  overbore  the 
saint's  resistance  and  forced  him  to  accept  the  pro- 
tection of  a  pontifical  brief  for  his  missionary  friars. 
It  was  issued  in  the  following  year,  and  is  dated 
from  Rieti,  the  11th  of  June,  1219.  This  month 
was  the  trysting  time  of  Frederick  II.'s  crusade, 
joined  by  volunteers  from  all  Christian  countries. 
The  embarkation  was  fixed  for  St.  John's  Day,  24th 
June,  at  Ancona. 

Francis,  encouraged  by  news  from  Brother  Elias, 
found  this  an  opportune  moment  for  joining  him  in 
Syria,  and  this  time  no  objection  was  interposed. 
(150) 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  151 

He  had  sent  Brother  Egidio  to  Tunis,  Brother 
Christopher  to  Gascony  and  a  third  mission  to  Spain 
and  Morocco.  The  first  and  third  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, Egidio  and  his  companions  being  driven 
from  the  country  and  forced  to  recross  the  Mediter- 
ranean, while  five  members  of  the  band  sent  to 
Morocco  were  martyred  in  the  year  following.  The 
second  mission  prospered,  and  for  fifty  years  Brother 
Christopher  lived  and  laboured  according  to  the 
gospel   Rule  in  Gascony. 

It  was  not  for  Francis  to  shirk  the  dangers  which 
his  brothers  faced,  and  he  set  out  for  Ancona  with 
a  large  following.  There  it  was  impossible  to  find 
passage  room  for  so  many.  Francis  called  to  his 
side  a  child  playing  near  and  bade  him  choose 
eleven  of  the  friars  to  form  the  mission.  These  he 
accepted,  the  rest  returned  to  the  Portiuncula. 
Embarking  for  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  they  touched  at 
Cyprus  on  the  way.  There  Brother  Barbaro  spoke 
"idle  words"  of  calumny  against  another  in  the 
presence  of  a  Cypriote  gentleman.  Francis  inflicted 
upon  him  the  penance  of  eating  dung,  while  he  re- 
peated :  ''It  is  fitting  that  a  mouth,  which  has 
distilled  the  venom  of  hatred  against  my  brother, 
should  eat  this  excrement." 

They  reached  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  where  Elias  was 
settled,  about  the  middle  of  July.  Francis  divided 
his  company  into  two  parts,  left  one  of  them  to 
reinforce  Elias  and  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Syria, 
and  started  with  the  other  for  Egypt,  whither  the 
crusaders  had  gone  to  besiege  Damietta. 


152  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Here  he  found  French,  EngHsh  and  Germans,  as 
well  as  Italians.  Jacques  de  Vitry,  present  at  the 
siege,  tells  us  of  the  impression  which  he  made  : 
"He  is  so  lovable  that  all  venerate  him."  But  he 
was  powerless  to  prevent  the  rabble  army  from 
attacking  the  Saracens  in  open  battle,  when  it  was 
routed  and  humiliated  as  he  had  predicted,  for  his 
experienced  eye  detected  its  want  of  discipline.  He 
was  well  known,  too,  amongst  the  Saracens  capable 
of  understanding  the  saintliness  of  the  "  little  poor 
one". 

The  Sultan  of  Egypt  was  Alkhamil,  a  man  of 
open  mind  and  noble  nature.  Francis  sought  his 
presence  and  told  him  of  Christ,  calling  upon  him 
to  test  the  heralds  of  God,  Pietro  de  Cattani  and 
himself,  who  were  willing  to  pass  through  flames  if 
his  soothsayers  and  priests  would  do  the  same.  But 
these  slunk  away.  Francis  expounded  the  gospel 
to  Alkhamil,  who  asked  him  to  pray  that  God 
would,  by  a  sign,  reveal  whether  Mahomet  or  Christ 
were  the  true  prophet.  He  is  said  to  have  accepted 
the  saint's  message,  and  to  have  received  the  last 
offices  from  two  friars  when  he  died  a  few  years 
later.  In  the  meantime,  he  gave  Francis  and  his 
companions  a  safe-conduct,  and  commended  them 
to  his  brother  Almuazzam,  the  Sultan  of  Syria. 
Damietta  was  taken  by  the  crusaders,  and  a  hideous 
carnage  ensued,  dishonouring  to  their  standard. 

Francis  left  a  scene  where  men's  greed  and  cruelty 
hindered  his  work,  and  went  to  Palestine.  We 
may  surmise  that  he  reached  Bethlehem  in  time  for 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  153 

Christmas  Eve,  and  that  there  his  spirit,  rapt  in 
visions  of  the  Babe,  recovered  its  joy  and  peace. 

But  we  have  only  fragmentary  and  perhaps 
legendary  record  of  his  seven  months'  stay  in  Pales- 
tine. Absent  from  the  Portiuncula  for  a  whole 
year,  he  knew  nothing  of  what  was  happening 
there.  His  arrangements  for  a  lengthened  separa- 
tion had  been  most  careful,  but  it  is  probable  that 
he  hoped  to  return  for  the  Whitsuntide  Chapter  of 
1220,  and  was  delayed  by  illness.  There  is  a  passing 
record  of  such  a  hindrance,  probably  some  form  of 
eye  disease,  such  as  ophthalmia.  We  may  be  sure 
that  those  afflicted  with  such  troubles,  as  well  as 
lepers,  would  be  his  special  care,  and  that  contact 
would  expose  him  to  attack,  while  shelterless  noons 
and  nights  would  leave  him  a  prey  to  the  poisonous 
flies  whose  swarms  plague  both  Egypt  and  Syria. 

The  Chapter  was  held  without  him,  and  revealed 
a  series  of  startling  innovations  and  grave  dis- 
orders. 

Pope  Honorius,  resident  at  Rieti  when  Francis 
left,  was  in  1220  at  Viterbo.  Cardinal  Ugolino 
remained  in  Perugia,  paying  occasional  visits  to 
Bologna,  the  headquarters  of  the  Dominicans  in 
Italy.  He  was  still  occupied  with  the  affairs  of 
both  orders.  The  founder  of  the  latter  had 
proved  to  be  most  manageable ;  the  founder  of 
the  former  was  in  the  East  by  his  own  passionate 
desire  and  unhindered  by  Ugolino.  A  nephew  of 
the  cardinal's  had  joined  Francis  some  time  earlier, 
although  we  are  ignorant  of  the  exact  date  of  his 


154  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

adhesion.  Brother  Gregory  of  Naples  he  was 
called,  and  his  capacity  as  a  missionary  director 
had  led  Francis  to  appoint  him  itinerary  super- 
intendent during  his  absence.  His  duties  were  to 
go  from  centre  to  centre  of  the  work  in  Italy  to 
guide,  encourage  and  console.  Brother  Matthew 
of  Narni  was  made  resident  director  at  the  same 
time — to  remain  at  the  Portiuncula,  receive  new 
adherents  and  carry  on  the  local  activities. 

Just  a  month  after  Francis  left  for  Syria,  Ugolino 
imposed  the  Benedictine  Rule  upon  the  Poor  Sisters 
at  Florence,  Siena,  Perugia  and  Lucca.  With  Clare 
at  San  Damiano  he  had  no  chance.  From  the  first 
he  was  much  impressed  with  Clare's  rare  strength 
of  character  and  sanctity,  and  something  almost 
approaching  to  a  friendship  existed  between  them. 
He  visited  San  Damiano  frequently,  and  must  have 
sought  to  convince  her  of  the  need  of  conventualism, 
but  Clare  gently  repelled  all  such  suggestions  and 
maintained  the  sufficiency  of  the  gospel  Rule. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  in  the  other  communi- 
ties his  counsels  met  with  greater  appreciation,  for 
we  are  told  that  it  was  at  the  instance  of  the  sisters, 
through  Brother  Filippo  Longo,  appointed  to  serve 
them,   that  the  Benedictine  Rule  was  imposed. 

Then,  through  Brother  Gregory  of  Naples,  an  in- 
novation was  effected  in  the  Rule  of  the  Brothers 
Minor.  He  and  Brother  Matthew  added  Monday 
to  the  weekly  fasts,  and  made  new  ordinances  with 
regard  to  the  character  of  what  they  might  eat  on 
other  days.     An  attempt,  too,  was  made  to  bring 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  155 

the  government  into  accord  with  the  old  raonasti- 
cism  rather  than  with  the  ''New  Covenant". 

When  these  changes  were  brought  before  the 
Chapter  of  I7th  May,  1220,  the  first  companions 
of  St.  Francis,  who  best  understood  their  superior's 
ideal,  were  indignant.  Unfortunately,  Gregory  of 
Naples,  while  discharging  his  functions,  had  been 
able  to  influence  many  of  the  friars.  But  those 
faithful  to  Francis,  and  uneasy  at  his  protracted 
absence — which  had  given  ground  for  a  rumour  of 
his  death — sent  one  of  their  number  to  the  East 
to  seek  him  out  and  to  entreat  his  return.  This 
brother  found  him  so  quickly  that  it  is  pro- 
bable he  was  about  to  embark  for  Italy  at  St. 
Jean  d'Acre.  On  hearing  of  his  vicar's  inter- 
ference with  the  Rule,  and  of  disorders  initiated 
by  one  of  the  friars — who  collected  a  body  of 
lepers,  both  men  and  women,  and  asked  for  papal 
authority  to  unite  them  under  a  separate  Rule — he 
was  deeply  distressed.  He  was  aware  of  rebellious 
elements  within  the  brotherhood,  but  he  had  trusted 
his  vicars,  and  to  them  were  due  these  revolutionary 
steps,  taken  under  the  aegis  of  Pope  and  cardinal, 
who  were  careful  to  keep  their  share  in  the  changes 
passive  and  unexpressed. 

Francis  took  Pietro  de  Cattani,  Brother  Elias, 
Caesar  of  Speyer  (Spires)  and  others  with  him  on 
the  homeward  journey.  They  were  landed  at 
Venice,  whence  they  set  out  for  Bologna,  passing 
by  Padua,  Brescia  and  Mantua.  He  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Clare  with  a  letter,  of  which  only  a  few 
lines  have  been  recovered ; — 


156  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

"  I,  little  Brother  Francis,  wish  to  follow  the  life 
and  the  poverty  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  exalted  Saviour, 
and  of  His  holy  mother,  and  to  persevere  therein 
until  the  end ;  and  I  entreat  and  exhort  you  all  to 
persevere  always  in  this  holy  life  and  poverty. 
And  beware  never  to  swerve  from  it,  whoever 
may  counsel  or  teach  you  to  that  effect." 

As  he  neared  Bologna  he  was  told  that  the  pro- 
vincial minister,  Pietro  Stacia,  had  placed  his  friars 
in  a  house  built  for  them,  and  had  organised  a 
college  for  the  pursuit  of  learning  amongst  them. 
The  house  was  known  as  belonging  to  the  Brothers 
Minor.  This  was  opposed  to  the  fundamental 
principle  of  his  order,  which  forbade  all  property, 
and,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Rivo  Torto, 
demanded  immediate  cession  of  even  a  ruin  to 
whoever  claimed  it.  His  displeasure  was  so  vehe- 
ment that  he  cursed  Brother  Pietro  Stacia,  refusing 
to  revoke  the  curse  when  implored  to  do  so.  He 
ordered  the  friars  in  residence  to  leave  at  once, 
taking  with  them  the  sick  persons  whom  they 
were  nursing.  It  is  significant  that  they  went  to 
Cardinal  Ugolino,  and  that  he  was  at  pains  to  ex- 
plain to  Francis  his  personal  proprietorship  of  the 
building,  which  he  permitted  the  friars  to  use.  He, 
too,  was  in  Bologna,  and  they  met  daily.  Francis 
allowed  himself  to  be  over-ruled,  but  with  what 
agony  he  must  have  realised  that  the  external 
success  of  his  order  was  to  be  its  inward  failure, 
that  Christ  was  to  be  betrayed  afresh  in  the  house 
of  His  friends. 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  157 

He  was  none  the  less  willing  to  preach  and  to 
call  men  to  repentance,  and,  although  the  develop- 
ment of  his  work  was  gone  beyond  him,  he  was  still 
beloved  of  all  Italy,  and  the  people  crowded  to 
hear  him  on  Assumption  Day,  when  he  addressed 
them  on  the  Piazza  del  Piccolo- Palazzo.  An  arch- 
deacon of  Bologna  cathedral  has  left  a  vivid  ac- 
count of  the  occasion.  He  tells  us  that  Francis 
spoke  on  "  angels,  men  and  demons "  ;  that  his 
garments  were  poor,  his  appearance  was  insigni- 
ficant, his  face  without  beauty  ;  but  that  God  gave 
such  power  to  his  words,  which  were  not  those  of  a 
pulpit  orator,  but  of  one  speaking  heart  to  heart, 
that  wise  men  and  nobles  were  filled  with  admira- 
tion, and  that  blood-feuds  in  the  city  came  to  an 
end  because  of  his  pleading  for  peace.  The  por- 
trait is  like  that  of  his  Master,  in  whom  there  was 
no  beauty  that  men  should  desire  Him,  but  such  a 
power  that  they  pressed  to  listen  to  Him. 

After  a  few  days  Ugolino  took  him  to  the  her- 
mitage of  San  Romualdo,  at  Camaldoli,  in  the 
Casentino — deep  in  forest  shades,  and  a  short 
distance  from  Monte  Alverna. 

Francis  was  in  sore  need  of  retreat,  and  Ugolino, 
loving  the  man,  but  determined  to  vanquish  his  pre- 
possession for  such  an  inconvenient  Rule  as  Christ's, 
found  the  opportunity  of  passing  St.  Michael's  Lent 
together  favourable  to  his  purpose. 

The  tenor  of  the  saint's  preoccupation  after  quit- 
ting Palestine  is  demonstrated  by  his  pathetic  dream 
of  the  little   black   hen,   whose   chickens  were  so 


158  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

numerous  that  her  wings  could  no  longer  shelter 
them.  And,  indeed,  his  ease  was  like  his  Master's, 
who  would  fain  have  gathered  His  chickens  together 
"as  a  hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under  her  wings," 
but  they  would  not.  For  to  this  it  had  come,  that 
many  of  the  friars  would  not. 

Humble  and  self-distrustful,  in  ill-health  and 
prostrated  in  spirit  by  disappointment,  he  was  in 
just  the  case  favourable  to  Ugolino's  skilful  treat- 
ment. Francis  loved  the  cardinal  and  leant  upon 
his  hardened  wisdom,  feeling  it  to  be  a  relief  from 
his  own  sensitiveness  to  successive  impressions.  Nor 
can  we  doubt  that  his  affection  was  amply  returned, 
and  that  Ugolino  reverenced  his  saintliness  and 
acknowledged  his  spiritual  power.  He  must  have 
convinced  Francis  of  the  peculiar  virtue  of  authority 
at  such  crises,  for  by  the  middle  of  September  his 
point  was  gained.  A  month  of  affectionate  com- 
panionship and  superlative  tact,  of  pressure  to  the 
point — with  perhaps  tender  reproof  that  he  forbore 
to  accept  the  whole  will  of  God — ended  in  victory 
for  the  cardinal.  He  did  not  venture  to  ask  for 
more  than  one  concession,  but  that  sufficed. 

Francis,  realising  his  own  inadequacy,  accepted 
him  as  protector  of  the  order  and  went  to  Orvieto 
to  ask  and  to  receive  the  Pope's  sanction  for  this 
appointment.  Ugolino's  negotiations  had  been  con- 
ducted with  the  far-sighted  and  patient  policy  of  a 
great  statesman.  He  granted  to  Francis  the  redress 
of  every  immediate  grievance,  released  the  Sisters 
from  St.   Benedict's   Rule,   discouraged  the   Leper 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  159 

Order,  and  enjoined  upon  him  the  drawing  up  of  a 
new  Rule  to  include  a  novitiate  of  one  year  for  all 
candidates,  a  precaution  whose  need  was  endorsed 
by  the  recent  disorders.  A  Bull  on  this  point  was 
issued,  to  be  read  at  the  Michaelmas  Chapter  of 
1220,  the  first  of  a  long  series  which  controlled  the 
future  concerns  of  the  order,  and  the  death-knell 
of  its  independence.  Francis  was  no  longer  able  to 
inspire  his  friars  with  his  own  mind,  and  there  was 
nothing  for  their  subjection  to  discipline  except 
authority.  While  he  ruled  in  their  hearts  Christ 
ruled  over  their  lives  ;  when  they  rebelled  against 
him  they  followed  their  own  caprices  and  became  a 
hindrance  rather  than  an  example,  more  dangerous 
than  the  heretics  of  Lombardy  and  Viterbo. 

The  Chapter  took  place  on  29th  September,  and 
during  its  sittings  Francis  began  to  prepare  his 
new  Rule.  He  was  obliged  to  admit  to  his  counsels 
the  ministers  of  the  order.  Reduced  to  deep  de- 
pression by  all  that  had  happened,  prone  to  blame 
himself  for  the  defects  of  others,  he  lacked  the 
certainty  of  God's  election  and  revelation,  which  had 
given  such  impetus  to  his  first  steps.  The  net  was 
closing  round  him.  His  interpretation  of  God's  will 
was  no  longer  deemed  final,  and  his  humility  under- 
mined his  assurance.  He  held  deliberate  conferences 
with  the  ministers,  and  a  Rule  was  decided  upon, 
which,  while  maintaining  some  of  the  original  prin- 
ciples, mitigated  the  vow  of  poverty,  that  vow  which 
was  the  mainspring  of  the  first  institution.  For,  as 
poverty  had  "  run  to  meet  our  Lord  at  His  nativity," 


160  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

had  laid  Him  in  a  manger,  had  gone  with  Him 
along  the  dusty  roads  of  Galilee,  had  provided  for 
Him  the  desert  place  for  dwelling,  the  wayside  for 
rest,  the  hours  of  toil,  the  scanty  meal,  the  dungeon 
and  the  cross — so  she  had  saved  Him  from  betray- 
ing the  will  of  His  Father,  had  kept  Him  wholly 
God-like,  a  pattern  to  all  who  live  for  the  salvation 
of  the  world.  Against  this  helpmeet  of  Christ  the 
blow  was  levelled  when  Francis  was  forced  to  omit 
from  the  new  Rule  the  passage  from  St.  Luke 
which  prescribed  garb,  bearing  and  forbearing  neces- 
sary for  those  who  were  sent  forth  as  lambs  amongst 
wolves.  "Woe  unto  those  brethren,"  he  cried, 
"that  set  themselves  against  me  in  this  matter, 
which  I  know  of  a  certainty  to  be  of  the  will  of 
God  for  the  greater  usefulness  and  need  of  the 
whole  religion,  albeit  I  unwillingly  condescend 
unto  their  will."  "Herein  is  my  grief  and  my 
affliction,  that  in  these  things  which,  with  much 
travail  of  prayer  and  meditation,  I  obtain  of  God 
through  His  mercy  for  the  welfare  present  and 
future  of  the  whole  religion,  and  am  by  Himself 
certified  that  they  be  in  accordance  with  His  will, 
yet  certain  of  the  brethren  on  the  authority  of  their 
own  knowledge  and  false  forethought,  do  go 
against  me  and  make  them  void,  saying:  'Such 
and  such  things  are  to  be  kept  and  observed  and 
such  others  not.'  " 

But  he  cried  in  vain.  He  resolved  to  resign  his 
office  of  superior,  using  his  waning  influence  to 
appoint  Pietro  de  Cattani  in  his  stead.     Before  the 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  161 

autumn  Chapter  of  1220  ended,  he  presented  Brother 
Pietro  to  the  assembly,  saying  :  "  Henceforward 
am  I  dead  unto  you,  but  see  here  Pietro  de  Cattani 
unto  whom  I  and  all  you  will  be  obedient."  Then 
he  knelt  on  the  ground  and  promised  his  own 
obedience,  while  the  friars  who  loved  him  wept  sore. 
"Lord/'  he  prayed  aloud,  '^unto  Thee  do  I  com- 
mend the  family  that  hitherto  Tliou  hast  committed 
unto  me.  And  now,  O  Lord  most  sweet,  on  account 
of  those  infirmities  whereof  Thou  wottest,  being 
unable  to  have  the  care  thereof,  I  do  commend  the 
same  unto  the  ministers,  the  which  in  the  day  of 
judgment  shall  be  held  answerable  before  Thee,  O 
Lord,  in  case  any  brother  shall  perish  through  their 
negligence  or  evil  ensample,  or  too  harsh  correction." 
The  great  renunciation  was  made  ;  he  had  yielded 
up  the  care  of  his  flock  ;  henceforth  he  went  alone 
by  rocky  paths  and  desert  places  to  his  home  in 
the  heart  of  God,  ascribing  to  the  maladies  which 
beset  him  this  new  stern  providence  for  himself, 
but  understanding  well  that  his  own  friars  thwarted 
his  ideal  for  the  order.  "  For  some  there  be  among 
the  number  of  the  superiors,  that  do  draw  them 
aside  to  other  things,  setting  before  them  the  ex- 
ample of  the  elders,  and  holding  my  advice  as  of 
little  account,  but  that  which  they  themselves  do, 
and  how  they  do  it,  will  be  made  clearer  in  the 
end." 

Nothing  was  more  contrary  to  his  "new  cove- 
nant "  than  the  gradual  systematising  of  the 
order    into    monasticism.        He    sought    to    bridge 


162  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

over  the  gulf  between  tlie  religious  and  secular 
classes,  strained  apart  by  the  Church,  and  to  apply 
Christ's  rule  of  living  as  the  true  rule  of  living  for 
all  men  alike,  promising  results  for  the  world  which 
it  had  not  hitherto  attained. 

But  with  Ugolino's  friendship  came  the  *'  rift 
within  the  lute/'  and  its  harmonies  were  dying  in 
discord.  The  appointment  of  provincial  ministers, 
and  of  vicars  to  act  in  his  absence,  was  the  first  step 
taken  in  the  new  direction,  and  this  seems  to  belong 
to  1218  and  1219.  Their  vicarious  authority  became 
a  conspiracy  against  his  administrative  influence, 
although  they  kept  up  an  appearance  of  reverence 
for  his  office,  even  to  the  extent  of  calling  Pietro 
de  Cattani  vicar  rather  than  minister-general.  This 
was  a  concession  to  the  popular  veneration  for  the 
dear  Umbrian  saint. 

Francis  chose  Brother  Caesar  of  Speyer  (Spires) 
to  assist  him  in  drawing  up  the  new  Rule,  whose 
chief  clauses  were  defined  at  Michaelmas.  A  student 
of  the  Scriptures  and  a  devoted  friend,  his  collabora- 
tion must  have  partially  comforted  Francis.  Their 
work  was  completed  by  Christmas.  It  occupied  ten 
folio  pages,  of  which  one  sufficed  for  the  Rule  itself, 
whilst  the  others  were  filled  with  passionate  appeals 
to  the  friars  to  keep  the  gospel  way,  and  with 
prayers  of  adoration  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  to  the 
Blessed  Mother  of  our  Lord,  to  the  archangels  and 
choirs  of  cherubim  and  seraphim,  to  saints  and 
apostles.  One  passage  implored  all  who  belonged  to 
the  Catholic  and  Apostolic   Church,  not  alone   its 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  l63 

ecclesiastics  and  their  following,  but  all  who  wor- 
shipped within  its  temples — babes  and  children,  the 
poor  and  exiled,  kings,  princes  and  working  men, 
servants  and  masters,  old  and  young,  people  of 
every  tribe  and  of  every  nation — to  persevere  in  the 
true  faith  and  in  penitence  along  with  the  Brothers 
Minor — unprofitable  servants — for  outside  of  faith 
and  penitence  no  one  could  be  saved.  And  then, 
again  and  again  he  recalled  the  friars  to  that  living 
within  the  love  of  God  which  is  as  essential  to  the 
spiritual  as  is  air  to  the  bodily  health  ;  to  the  lift- 
ing up  of  humble  hearts  in  praise  of  the  most  high, 
sovereign  and  eternal  God,  who  alone  can  purify 
and  empower  their  faculties.  The  poignant  note 
of  grief,  uncertainty,  anxiety  rings  in  these  an- 
guished repetitions. 

Francis  took  this  document  to  Rome  early  in 
1221,  but  before  presenting  it  to  Honorius  III. 
he  submitted  it  to  Cardinal  Ugolino  for  criticism 
and  correction.  As  M.  Sabatier  suggests,  it  must 
have  been  at  this  time  that  he  constrained  himself 
to  unresisting  obedience.  "  Take  a  lifeless  body 
and  set  it  where  you  please.  Ye  will  see  that  it  re- 
senteth  not  being  moved,  nor  changeth  its  position, 
nor  crieth  out  when  it  is  let  go.  If  that  it  be  set 
upon  a  throne,  it  looketh  not  toward  the  highest 
but  the  lowest.  If  it  be  clad  in  purple,  then  is  it 
doubly  wan.  This  is  the  truly  obedient,  that  asketh 
no  question  wherefore  he  should  be  moved,  careth 
not  where  he  is  placed,  urgeth  not  that  he  should 
be   changed    elsewhere.      Promoted    to    office,    he 


164  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

holdetli  his  wonted  humility  ;  and  the  more  he  is 
honoured  the  more  he  thinketh  him  unworthy." 

Perhaps  a  touch  of  hysterical  irony  lurks  in  this 
simile^  but  it  was  in  the  spirit  of  this  obedience  that 
he  submitted  to  Cardinal  Ugolino's  judgment. 

The  discoveries  of  M.  Sabatier  and  of  Padre 
Berardelli  give  us  a  Rule,  drawn  up  at  the  same 
time,  for  the  Third  Order  of  Penitents.  Twelve 
chapters  or  paragraphs  comprise  what  belongs  to 
1221,  for  the  thirteenth,  subjoined  to  the  copy 
found  in  I9OI  by  M.  Sabatier  in  the  convent  of  San 
Giovanni  of  Capestrano,  in  the  Province  of  Aquila, 
was  added  in  1228,  and  was  the  first  of  a  series  of 
changes.  These  twelve  paragraphs  concern  cloth- 
ing, abstinence,  fasting,  prayer,  confession,  com- 
munion, prohibition  to  carry  arms  and  use  oaths, 
works  of  mercy,  masses  for  departed  members,  the 
making  of  wills,  the  treatment  of  heretics  and  the 
punishment  of  wrongdoing.  The  clauses  are  short 
and  incisive,  and  contain  nothing  of  the  essential 
quality  of  the  saint's  compositions.  Doubtless  this 
memorial  for  the  Third  Order  of  Penitents  may  be 
referred  to  the  cardinal.  These  had  increased  to 
so  great  a  number  throughout  Italy  that  their 
organisation  would  commend  itself  to  him,  and  his 
action  was  hastened  by  numerous  indiscretions  due 
to  their  lack  of  supervision.  We  have  seen  how 
they  meant  for  Francis  and  his  first  companions  the 
coming  of  God's  kingdom  throughout  the  world. 
His  preaching  and  influence  attracted  the  first : 
home  missions  added  to  their  number.     They  lived 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  l65 

in  their  homes,  the  best  of  them  simply  obedient  to 
Christ's  teaching.  But  want  of  direction  was  soon 
manifest  amongst  them.  This  Rule  places  them 
under  four  authorities,  or  ministers — the  visitor,  the 
spiritual  adviser,  the  director,  and  finally  the  bishop 
in  whose  diocese  they  dwelt.  The  visitor's  functions 
were  judicial  ;  he  reproved,  corrected  and  punished 
disorders.  Throughout  the  thirteenth  century  this 
Third  Order  gave  the  Franciscan  generals  consider- 
able trouble,  and  the  Rule  of  1221  was  altered  and 
enlarged  in  1228,  1234  and  1289. 

Cardinal  Ugolino,  the  most  influential  member  of 
the  college,  friend  for  the  moment  of  Frederick  II., 
powerful  with  Honorius  III.,  was  still  much  occu- 
pied with  the  development  of  the  Mendicant  Orders. 
He  considered  them  complimentary  to  each  other, 
and  wished  to  effect  not  only  a  close  alliance  between 
them,  but  to  invest  them  Avith  authority,  and  to 
strengthen  the  hierarchy  from  their  ranks.  His 
imagination  pictured  them  so  firmly  welded  to  the 
Church  that  they  would  form  a  strong  bulwark  for 
her  power  throughout  the  world. 

Dominic  was  in  Rome  at  this  time  and  met 
Francis  frequently  in  the  cardinal's  palace.  Ugo- 
lino  suggested  to  both  his  project  of  choosing 
bishops  from  their  friars,  but  foiled  to  win  their 
approval.  ''  I  would  rather  that  my  friars  remain 
as  they  are,"  said  Dominic,  and  Francis  refused 
honour  for  his  on  the  ground  that  minores  could  not 
become  majores.  "  If  you  would  that  they  bring 
forth    fruit  in  the   Church   of  God   let  them  stay 


166  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

where  God  has  called  them.  Let  not  their  poverty 
become  an  occasion  of  pride,  and  rather  thrust  them 
down  than  allow  them  to  climb  on  high." 

They  parted  on  the  day  when  Dominic  left  for 
Bologna — to  die  a  few  months  later — and  as  they 
bade  each  other  farewell  Dominic  begged  for  the 
cord  which  girded  Francis  and  wore  it  under  his 
habit  to  the  end.  "  Of  a  truth/'  he  said  to  his 
followers,  ''  all  the  religious  ought  to  imitate  this 
holy  man  Francis,  so  absolute  is  the  perfection  of 
his  holiness." 

Pietro  de  Cattani's  death  on  the  10th  of  March 
recalled  Francis  to  the  Portiuncula,  when  he  chose 
Brother  Elias  to  be  minister-general.  This  act 
marks  emphatically  his  subjection  to  the  papal 
policy.  Caesar  of  Speyer  (Spires)  was  out  of  the 
way,  despatched  to  Southern  Germany  on  mission 
work  shortly  before  Pietro's  death.  The  Curia 
could  not  have  succeeded  so  well  with  him  as  with 
Brother  Elias,  whose  character  the  astute  cardinal 
readily  gauged.  Ugolino  doubtless  desired  Francis 
to  make  the  appointment,  because  it  owed  nothing 
to  the  suffrages  of  the  friars  assembled  three  months 
later  at  the  Whitsuntide  Chapter.  Beyond  an  occa- 
sional convulsion  of  opposition  or  bitter  cry  of 
disappointment,  Francis  made  little  effort  to  stem 
the  backward  movement.  He  seems  to  have  de- 
voted himself  to  the  cultivation  of  personal  humility, 
no  longer  exclusively  towards  God,  but  also  towards 
Ugolino  and  the  ministers  of  the  order,  whose  inter- 
position between  himself  and  the  friars  destroyed 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  l67 

their  erewhile  relations  of  father  and  children,  and 
thwarted  the  gentle  influence  with  which  he  had 
once  swayed  their  minds  and  their  conduct.  It 
may  have  been  suggested  to  him  that  he  was  to 
blame  for  their  disorders,  and  in  the  nervous  crisis 
produced  by  all  these  disasters  the  suggestion  had 
taken  root  and  grown  into  a  half-bewildered  peni- 
tence. Certainly  his  aim  was  to  offer  a  constant 
example  of  dumb  obedience  to  Elias.  The  effort 
induced  an  odd  reaction  of  feeling,  in  which  his 
own  shrewd  intuitions  turned  and  rent  him.  He 
took  an  aversion  to  Elias  which  he  could  hardly 
overcome  and  which  he  ascribed  to  a  prevision  of 
his  eternal  damnation.  But  this  was  merely  a 
hysterical  reason  for  his  well-grounded  distrust  of 
the  new  government,  now  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  men  of  learning,  the  men  who  had  sought 
out  many  inventions,  preferring  them  to  the  simple 
Rule  of  which  Christ  had  been  sole  mouthpiece. 

At  the  Chapter  of  May  80th,  1221,  Francis  took 
his  place  humbly  at  Bombarone's  feet.  To  him  he 
handed  the  new  Rule  for  proclamation.  Some 
arrangement  had  been  come  to  between  Elias  and 
Ugolino,  for  the  Rule  disappeared  a  few  days  later. 
Brother  Elias  said  he  had  lost  it  ;  more  probably 
he  had  sent  it  to  the  cardinal,  who  found  himself 
unable  to  be  present,  and  who  would  take  good 
care  to  lose  it,  since  he  knew  and  disapproved  of 
its  contents.  So  Francis,  with  some  of  his  earliest 
followers.  Brothers  Bernardo,  Leo,  Egidio,  Bonizio, 
retired  to  the   hermitage  at   Monte  Colombo  and 


168  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

began  to  write  out  a  second  copy.  When  this  was 
known  there  was  consternation  amongst  the  friars 
whose  party  was  in  authority.  They  came  to  EUas 
complaining  that  Francis  was  making  a  Rule  too 
heavy  to  bear,  and  asking  the  minister-general  to 
interfere  and  to  tell  the  saint  that  they  would  not 
be  bound  by  his  Rule,  so  that  he  might  make  it  for 
himself  but  not  for  them.  Elias  dechned  the  em- 
bassy unless  the  malcontents  were  willing  to  go 
with  him.  They  consented  to  this,  and  seeking 
Francis  in  his  solitude,  laid  their  objections  to  the 
gospel  Rule  before  him.  These  he  repelled,  re- 
minding them  that  Christ  Himself  had  called  them 
to  obey  this  Rule,  and  suggesting  that  all  those 
friars  who  refused  it  should  leave  the  order.  But 
his  struggle  was  vain.  Well  did  the  rebels  know 
that  Elias,  Ugolino,  the  Pope  were  at  their  back  ; 
that  until  the  document  had  been  modified  by 
authority,  their  obedience  could  not  be  exacted  ; 
that  its  doom  would  be  pronounced  at  the  forth- 
coming Chapter. 

Whatever  precautions  were  taken  to  veil  their 
policy  from  Francis  and  his  faithful  few,  its  further- 
ance was  resolved,  and  we  are  almost  driven  to 
conjecture  that  their  attitude  towards  him  was  one 
of  scarcely  concealed  impatience  for  his  death. 
Blow  after  blow  fell  upon  the  fair  fabric  of  his  plan. 
No  longer  were  the  brothers  to  be  as  Christ  was, 
or  as  those  whom  Christ  ordained.  They  were  to 
be  gathered  into  communities,  into  houses,  to  have 
privileges  and  possessions,  to  have  churches  of  their 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  169 

own,  to  be  under  strict  command,  to  be  employed 
as  papal  messengers,  agents,  instruments.  Not  for 
the  salvation  of  the  world  were  they  to  exist,  but 
for  the  endorsement  of  ecclesiastical  authority. 
The  hermitages  were  to  be  abandoned  ;  the  little 
temporary  homes  of  canes  and  branches,  which 
served  them  for  brief  shelter  on  their  itineraries, 
were  to  be  disused.  Solid  structures  were  begun 
to  receive  them  permanently.  No  longer  were  the 
humble  and  ancient  sanctuaries  to  be  their  care  ; 
were  they  to  fill  churches  in  town  and  city  ;  were 
they  to  gather  peasants  about  them  in  the  fields, 
townsfolk  in  the  piazzas. 

Fine  churches  began  to  rise  wherever  their  com- 
panies were  planted,  to  give  them  local  importance, 
to  destroy  the  very  foundations  upon  which  their 
order  had  been  raised.  For  the  things  invisible 
and  eternal  had  once  more  come  to  judgment  and 
were  decreed  worthless  beside  the  visible. 

The  friars  were  granted  power  to  celebrate  the 
offices  and  functions  of  the  Church  in  times  of  in- 
terdict ;  they  were  employed  by  the  Court  of  Rome 
against  the  regular  clergy  when  these  were  de- 
faulters. 

This  revolution  was  relentlessly  carried  out,  while 
Francis  was  kept  in  partial  ignorance  of  its  develop- 
ment. He  was  reduced  to  fill  the  role  of  saint  with- 
out authority  or  influence.  It  was  a  tragic  role,  for 
the  shortcomings  of  his  children  recoiled  upon  him 
as  if  they  were  his  own,  and  he  lamented  them  in 
anguish,  which  preyed  upon  him, 


170  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

It  was  not  till  1223  that  the  new  Rule  was  pro- 
mulgated, and  its  clauses  betray  the  setting  aside 
of  what  he  held  to  be  essential.  Even  what  of  his 
was  retained  is  modified  into  futility,  given  as  a 
counsel  of  perfection,  and  then  carefully  disallowed. 
Thus,  his  gospel  precedent  regarding  fi'iars  con- 
victed of  sin,  either  mortal  or  venial,  is  disregarded, 
and  elaborate  instructions  take  its  place,  giving 
judicial  functions  to  the  provincial  minister  through 
a  priest  of  the  order. 

Then  the  minister-general  is  endowed  with  ulti- 
mate administrative  power.  The  Chapters  are  no 
longer  to  be  held  biennially  at  Pentecost  and 
Michaelmas.  Their  assembling  depends  on  the 
good  pleasure  of  the  general.  His  government  is 
to  be  without  reference  to  the  Chapter,  which  is 
to  be  convoked  for  administrative  purposes  only 
when  the  general  is  inefficient.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  Ugolino  and  Elias  framed  this  important  clause 
without  reference  to  Francis,  and  that  the  complete 
revolution  of  the  order  was  effected  by  virtue  of 
its  action.  It  stopped  the  mouths  of  all  who  were 
loyal  to  the  original  purpose  and  organisation. 
Some  of  these  reproached  Francis  for  doing  nothing 
to  hinder  this  destruction  of  the  old  ideal,  and  his 
answer  indicates  the  advantage  taken  by  cardinal 
and  minister-general  of  his  enfeebled  state.  '^^For 
so  long  as  I  held  the  office  of  superior  over  the 
brethren  and  they  did  abide  in  their  vocation  and 
profession,  albeit  that  from  the  beginning  of  my 
conversion  I  have  ever  been  ailing,  yet  with  such 


YEARS  OF  TROUBLE  171 

small   solicitude,    as    I    could,    did   I   endeavour    to 
satisfy  them  both  by  ensample  and  by  preaching  ; 
but,    after   that,    I    perceived    how    the    Lord    did 
multiply  the  number  of  the  brethren,  and  how  they 
themselves,   by  reason  of  their  lukewarmness  and 
want  of  spirit,  did  begin  to  decline  from  the  right 
way  and  safe  wherein  they  had  been  wont  to  walk, 
and  treading  the  broader  way   that  leadeth  unto 
death,  would  no  longer  pay  heed  unto  their  calling 
and  profession,  nor  to  any  good  ensample,  and  were 
not  minded   to   forsake    the    perilous    and    deadly 
journey     they    had    emprised,    by    reason    of    any 
preaching  or  admonition  or  ensample  of  mine  that 
I  did  ever  manifest  before  them,  I  did,  therefore, 
resign  the  superiorship  and  the  government  of  the 
religion  unto  God  and  unto  the  ministers  thereof. 
Whence,  albeit  that  at  the  time  when  I  did  renounce 
mine    office   of  superior   over  the   brethren,    I  did 
excuse    me    before    the    brethren    in    the    Chapter 
General  for  that,  by  reason  of  mine  infirmities,  I 
was  not  able  to  undertake  the  charge  of  them  ;  yet, 
natheless,  were    the  brethren  willing   to  walk  ac- 
cording to  my  will ;  for  their  comfort  and  utility  I 
would  that  they  should  have  none  other  minister 
but  me  until  my  dying  day.      From  the  time  that 
a  good  and  faithful  subject  knoweth  and  observeth 
the  will  of  his  superior,  little  solicitude  need  the 
superior  have  about  him  ;  yea,  so  greatly  should  I 
rejoice  in  the  goodness  of  the  brethren,  by  reason 
of  the  gain  unto  them  and  the  gain  unto  myself, 
that  if  I   were   lying  abed   sick    it  would    be    no 


172  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

trouble  unto  me  to  satisfy  them  ;  for  that  mine 
office — that  is  the  office  of  superior — is  spiritual 
only,  to  wit,  to  have  the  mastery  over  their  evil 
ways,  and  spiritually  to  correct  and  amend  them. 
But,  seeing  that  I  cannot  correct  and  amend  them 
by  preaching,  admonition  and  example,  I  am  not 
minded  to  become  an  executioner  to  punish  and 
scourge  them  like  the  magistrates  of  this  world. 
For  I  trust  in  the  Lord  that  the  invisible  enemies 
that  are  the  sergeants  of  the  Lord,  for  punishing 
the  guilty  in  this  world  and  in  the  world  to  come, 
will  get  like  vengeance  on  them  that  transgress 
the  commandments  of  God  and  the  vow  of  their 
profession,  .  .  .  that  so  they  may  be  turned  back 
unto  their  own  calling  and  profession." 


CHAPTER  VII 

LAST  YEARS 

1223—1226 

The  Rule  of  1223 — The  Praesepio  of  Greccio — The  Friars  in 
England — Monte  Alverna — The  Stigmata — Farewell  to 
Monte  Alverna — Canticle  of  the  Sun — Rieti — Siena — 
Bagnara — Assisi — Bishop  and  Magnates  at  Variance — 
Francis  makes  Peace. 

THE.  Rule  was  finally  passed  by  Cardinal  Ugo- 
lino  and  the  ministers  at  the  Michaelmas 
Chapter  of  1223.  Francis  took  it  to  Monte 
Colombo,  and  remained  at  the  hermitage  there 
in  prayer  and  fasting,  before  he  went  to  Rome, 
where  he  was  the  cardinal's  guest.  On  Novem- 
ber 25th,  he  was  received  at  the  Lateran,  and 
Honorius,  after  personally  modifying  one  of  its 
clauses,  bestowed  upon  the  Rule  his  seal  and 
sanction. 

It  was  during  this  visit  that  he  one  day  shocked 
his  host  by  arriving  rather  late  for  dinner,  with  a 
collection  of  crusts  which  he  had  begged,  and  which 
he  distributed  to  all  at  table,  explaining  afterwards 
that  for  him  and  his  true  sons  the  table  of  the  Lord 
far  outweighed  the  richest  banquet. 
(173) 


174  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Some  strain  of  nervous  excitability  is  obvious  in 
another  incident,  which  recounts  his  painful  ex- 
periences in  a  tower  near  the  palace  of  Cardinal 
Leo,  who  had  persuaded  him  to  spend  a  few  days 
as  his  guest.  He  was  either  attacked  by  thieves 
or  suffered  from  a  nightmare,  in  which  he  believed 
himself  to  be  beaten  by  demons  on  account  of  his 
selfish  disregard  of  the  privations  of  the  brethren,  to 
punish  which  God  had  sent  these  His  sergeants  for 
his  correction.  So  next  morning  he  bade  the  car- 
dinal farewell,  and  returned  to  Monte  Colombo,  his 
solitude  near  Rieti. 

The  time  approached  Christmas  Eve.  Hallowed 
memories  of  Bethlehem  crowded  upon  him  and 
dispelled  the  strange  terrors  of  an  over-wi*ought 
imagination,  which  had  invaded  even  this  peaceful 
hermitage — making  him  their  prey  one  midnight 
because  the  brothers  insisted  on  his  using  a  feather 
pillow,  for  which  his  conscience  reproached  him. 
In  the  neighbourhood  lived  a  friend,  John  of 
Greccio.  Francis  went  to  him  and  asked  him  to 
help  in  carrying  out  an  inspiration  for  the  festival. 
The  good  man  provided  a  manger  filled  with  hay, 
an  ox  and  an  ass.  From  all  the  neighbouring 
monasteries  monks  were  bidden  to  come  to  the 
hermitage,  and  the  pathways  up  Monte  Colombo 
rang  with  their  footsteps  and  chanting.  As  the 
winter  afternoon  darkened,  peasants,  torch  in  hand, 
hastened  through  the  forest,  laden  with  candles  for 
the  praesepio.  The  cells  were  filled  with  light. 
In  the  larger  was  placed  the  manger,  the  ox  and  ass 


LAST  YEARS  175 

were  led  to  its  side,  and  a  babe  was  laid  in  it  by 
Francis  himself;  it  turned  in  his  arms  and  gazed 
upon  him  smiling.  He  trembled  with  joy,  while 
tears  of  sorrow  for  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  laid 
long  ago  by  the  Lady  Poverty  upon  hay  in  a 
manger,  fell  from  his  eyes.  As  midnight  passed 
the  brothers  joined  in  matins ;  mass  was  sung, 
and  Francis  read  the  gospel  of  Good  Tidings  and 
preached  upon  the  '^ Child  of  Bethlehem".  It 
seemed  to  all  that  they  were  in  Bethlehem,  that 
time  and  space  were  vanquished  as  they  listened — 
and  they  adored  the  God  who  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  spared  not  His  Son. 

Joy  returned  to  the  desolate  heart :  the  Babe  of 
Bethlehem  had  brought  him  peace.  M.  Sabatier 
reminds  us  how  this  joy  inspired  Brother  Jacopone 
di  Todi  to  write  a  second  Stabat  Mater,  one  in 
which  Mary's  heart  sings  at  the  cradle  of  her 
Son. 

Stood  the  mother  full  of  joy 
By  the  hay  where  lay  her  Boy, 
Very  fair  she  was  to  see. 

And  she  gloried  all  amazed. 
And  exulted  as  she  gazed, 
Worshipping  the  Babe  she  bore. 

Make  me  glad  in  verity, 
Little  Jesus,  one  with  Thee 
All  my  life,  I  Thee  implore. 

At  Pentecost,  1224,  the  new  Rule  was  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  ministers.  The  copy  brought  back 


176  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

from  Rome  by  Francis,  to  which  is  attached  the 
Pope's  seal,  is  still  in  existence  and  can  be  seen  in 
the  sacristy  of  San  Francesco  at  Assisi. 

A  mission  was  despatched  to  England,  reaching 
Dover  late  in  the  autumn  of  that  year.  One  of 
Brother  Pacifico's  best  workers  in  France,  Brother 
Agnello  di  Pisa,  was  placed  at  its  head.  Two  by 
two  the  friars  made  for  the  towns — for  Oxford  and 
London  first  of  all — and  for  their  worst  quarters, 
where  fevers,  leprosy  and  misery  were  most  at 
home.  Newgate  was  their  choice  in  London,  while 
at  Oxford  they  built  their  mud  and  wattle  huts 
amongst  the  river  swamps.  Rebuff  and  welcome 
they  accepted  with  equal  mind,  for  these  men  were 
still  of  true  Franciscan  spirit,  and  perhaps  knew 
nothing  of  the  revolt.  So,  at  all  events,  we  are  led 
to  believe  from  their  ardent  poverty  and  fidehty  to 
the  Rule.  It  was  not  until  they  had  attracted  a 
large  body  of  adherents,  until  the  first  friars  had 
passed  away,  that  the  trend  towards  monasticism 
and  learning  affected  the  order  in  England,  and 
even  then  we  find  its  members  in  fullest  sympathy 
with  the  spirit  of  liberty,  of  light,  of  revolt  against 
papal  tyranny.  And  in  England,  as  elsewhere,  they 
quickened  the  current  of  tenderness  for  the  wretched 
and  diseased,  which  had  grown  stagnant  in  the 
Church  as  in  the  State. 

Early  in  August  Francis,  taking  Brothers  Leo, 
Angelo,  Masseo  and  Illuminato  with  him,  left  for 
Monte  Alverna  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Arno. 
There  was  no   duty  now  to  hold   him  back  from 


LAST  YEARS  177 

those  desert  places^  where  he  could  commune  with 
God.  They  started  on  foot,  but  two  days  of  toil- 
some walking  exhausted  his  powers,  and  a  peasant 
of  the  plain  of  Arezzo  pressed  upon  his  use  an  ass, 
which  he  prepared  to  lead  himself.  The  Arno  flows 
there  amongst  vines  and  mulberries,  and  the  Apen- 
nines circle  round,  rising  three  and  four  thousand 
feet,  their  lower  slopes  corn  and  meadow  land, 
their  mid-flanks  clad  with  oaks  and  chestnuts,  their 
summits  dark  with  pines.  As  they  journeyed  to- 
wards the  sternest  of  these  mountain  heights,  the 
peasant  asked  him  if  he  were  in  truth  that  Francis 
of  Assisi  of  whom  all  men  spoke,  and,  being  as- 
sured, he  bade  him  take  heed  to  be  as  good  as  men 
accounted  him,  since  it  were  pity  that  they  should 
be  deceived.  And  Francis,  rejoiced  at  his  homely 
sincerity,  dismounted  that  he  might  the  better 
thank  him  on  his  knees  for  so  congenial  a  counsel. 
Monte  Alverna,  four  thousand  feet  in  height,  was 
ascended  by  a  narrow  path  amongst  bare  rocks, 
precipitous  and  unclad.  But  on  its  summit  grew  a 
forest  of  pines,  oaks  and  beeches,  and  under  their 
shade  nestled  wild  flowers,  belated  cyclamens  and 
starry  pyrolas.  Amongst  the  trees,  too,  dwelt  a 
great  colony  of  birds,  from  fierce  falcons  frequent- 
ing the  cliffs  to  little  song-birds — merle,  mavis  and 
finch.  For  the  Casentino  is  very  rich  in  birds.  As 
the  weary  company  rested  under  an  oak,  a  flock  of 
songsters  flew  from  the  forest  to  greet  St.  Francis, 
settling  on  his  head  and  shoulders  and  hands,  bid- 
ding him  welcome  with  shrill  cries  and  fluttering 
12 


178  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

wings.  With  gladdened  mien  he  turned  to  his 
companions,  saying  :  "  I  see  it  seems  good  to  our 
Lord  that  we  sojourn  on  this  lonely  mountain,  since 
our  little  sisters  the  birds  meet  us  with  such  de- 
light." 

Then  resuming  their  way,  they  toiled  up  to  the 
summit,  and  found  there  the  preparations  made  by 
Count  Orlando  for  their  stay.  Caves  supplied  cells 
for  the  brothers,  and  on  the  sward  stood  a  hut 
made  and  roofed  of  branches  for  Francis.  But  not 
at  once  did  he  retire  to  solitude.  The  beauty  of 
the  summer  night,  the  balmy  air,  the  rustle  of 
leaves,  the  fragrance — all  demanded  a  tribute  of 
acknowledgment,  for  all  came  direct  from  the 
Creator.  There  were  arrangements  as  well  to  be 
made  for  the  two  months  which  he  proposed  to 
spend  there.  A  small  sanctuary  had  been  built  for 
their  daily  mass  and  offices,  and  Francis  called  it 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angioli,  in  memory  of  the  be- 
loved mother  shrine  at  home.  Times  and  seasons 
were  appointed  for  all  services.  As  he  sat  upon  a 
rock  with  the  faithful  few  around  him,  he  talked 
of  his  death  as  something  with  which  he  now  stood 
face  to  face,  with  no  personal  regret,  but  with 
anxiety  for  them,  lambs  amongst  wolves,  whose 
future  he  could  not  foresee.  For  them  he  was 
willing  still  to  live  and  suffer,  to  spend  and  be  spent, 
would  that  assure  their  safety  in  the  narrow  way. 
The  order  had  gone  from  him,  but  these  and  some 
others  were  his  "little  flock,"  and  the  kingdom  was 
given  to  them. 


LAST  YEARS  179 

For  himself,  he  had  sought  Monte  Alverna  for 
fastmg  and  prayer,  for  meditation  on  the  Passion 
of  his  Master,  which  he  understood  now  as  he  had 
never  done  before.  Christ  had  been  forsaken  by 
His  own,  as  Francis  was  now,  without  even  a  loyal 
remnant  to  console  Him  in  the  dark  hour  of  His 
need.  Towards  mid-September  would  come  the 
Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross  ;  he  meant  to 
prepare  himself  for  it  by  unremitting  surrender  of 
mind  and  spirit  to  the  Crucified  One  and  His  suf- 
ferings. He  bade  his  companions  protect  his 
solitude  ;  do  for  all  who  came  what  was  asked  of 
them,  but  suifer  no  secular  visitor  to  interrupt  him 
as  he  wrestled  in  prayer.  He  gave  Brother  Leo 
instructions  to  bring  him  bread  and  water  daily. 

His  leafy  hut  was  but  a  stone's  throw  from  the 
cells,  and  the  brothers,  hungering  and  thirsting  for 
their  beloved  father,  were  too  near  him,  watched 
him  too  closely.  In  a  few  days  the  Feast  of  the 
Assumption  was  due,  and  it  initiated  what  he  called 
St.  Michael's  Lent,  which,  ending  with  September, 
he  was  used  to  observe  in  strict  solitude  and  fasting. 
So  he  sought  a  place  of  absolute  seclusion.  A  chasm 
in  the  Penna  lay  between  an  isolated  mass  of  rock 
and  the  cells  of  the  brothers.  It  was  crossed  by  a 
log  of  wood,  and  Francis  found  on  the  other  side  a 
supreme  solitude,  broken  only  by  the  falcon  nesting 
there,  whom  his  presence  did  not  disturb,  and  to 
whose  cries  at  dawn  he  trusted  as  a  call  to  matins, 
believing  when  the  bird  wheeled  upwards  in  silence 
that  he  forbore  to  waken  him  through  pity  of  his 


180  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

prostration — and  this  may  well  have  been,  since  the 
man  and  all  God's  creatures  were  at  one. 

Here  a  hut  was  built  for  him,  and  on  the  Feast 
of  the  Assumption  he  began  his  fast.  From  time 
to  time  Brother  Leo  was  allowed  to  say  matins  with 
him,  and  it  may  have  been  after  this  function  that 
one  day  he  won  from  him  that  written  benediction 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  sacristy  of  San  Francesco  at 
Assisi,  all  soiled  at  the  folds  with  long  carrying  in 
the  Pecorello's  tunic.  In  pain  and  blindness  Francis 
formed  the  letters  on  a  little  sheet  of  parchment, 
about  six  inches  in  length  and  four  in  width.  On 
one  side  he  wrote  a  number  of  verses  from  the 
Lmides  Creatoris,  and  on  the  other  the  beautiful 
benediction  from  the  sixth  chapter  of  Numbers, 
which  God  ordained  for  Aaron's  use : — 

Beiiedicat  tibi  Doviinns  et  custodiat  te  : 
Ostendat  faciem  suam  tibi  et  misereatw  tui  : 
Convertat  vultum  suum  ad  te  et  del  tibi  pacem  : 

Then,  to  make  it  specially  the  Pecorello's  own,  he 
wrote  : — 

Dominus  bcnedicat  te  F rater  Leo  : 

and  below  this  special  consecration  he  sketched  a 
cross  like  a  Greek  Tau,  the  old  form  of  the  cross, 
and  placed  beside  it  a  recumbent  friar,  Brother  Leo, 
to  remind  him  that  he  must  lie  low  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross  all  the  days  of  his  life.  Some  lines  in  red 
ink  written  by  Leo  date  this  most  pathetic  docu- 
ment after  the  event  which  befel  Francis  on  the 
morning  of  the  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Cross. 


THE    BEXEUICTION    OF    BROTHER    LEO 
From  the  original  in  the  Sacristy  of  the  Upper  Chj(7xh  at  Assist 


LAST  YEARS  181 

He  had  spent  weeks  in  prayer  and  fasting,  his 
whole  spirit  absorbed  with  the  sorrow  of  the  Cross, 
well  understood  by  one  betrayed,  too,  by  his  fol- 
lowers to  the  priests.  No  man  on  earth  ever 
realised  so  keenly  as  did  Francis  what  the  Man  of 
Sorrows  suffered  before  His  crucifixion,  and  while 
He  hung  upon  the  tree  God's  gift  of  the  marks  of 
that  final  agony  was  but  the  Divine  recognition  of 
his  martyrdojn.  They  were  bestowed  upon  him 
suddenly  after  his  long  vigil  while  he  knelt  before  the 
entrance  of  his  hut  praying  for  union  with  Christ's 
sufferings.  His  face  was  turned  towards  the  dawn, 
whose  light  more  radiant  than  common  shone  upon 
him.  For  down  its  rays  there  sped  a  vision  of  One 
nailed  to  a  cross,  flying  to  him  with  wings  that  beat 
the  air,  while  two  wings  covered  his  head  and  two 
his  feet.  A  moment  the  marvel  rested  above  him 
while  he  gazed,  and  then  words  fell  from  its  lips, 
and  he  understood  that  his  martyrdom  was  accepted, 
his  prayer  granted.  When  the  glory  faded  he  found 
upon  hands  and  feet  and  side  the  marks  of  the 
Lord's  body.  From  a  wound  on  his  right  side 
oozed  a  few  drops  of  blood,  and  through  his  hands 
and  feet  were  fleshy  growths,  black  in  colour  and 
piercing  from  side  to  side.  They  resembled  nails 
exactly,  and  were  not  the  mere  wounds  of  modern 
hysterical  ecstaticism. 

Celestial  joy  accompanied  and  followed  this  great 
investiture,  and  recompensed  him  for  all  the  pain 
that  went  before.  He  abode  in  that  joy  a  fort- 
night longer,  and  on  September  30th,  the  Festival 


182  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

of  Saints  Michael  and  Jerome,  left  Monte  Alverna 
for  ever.  The  circumstances  of  his  going  are  set 
forth  in  a  beautiful  letter  written  long  afterwards 
by  Brother  Masseo  for  the  edification  of  the  order. 

Masseo  was  more  than  ninety  years  old  when  he 
died,  and  he  spent  sev^enty  years  of  his  long  life  in 
humble  obedience  to  the  gospel  Rule.  He  tells 
how  Francis  called  the  brothers  into  the  oratory 
of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angioli  early  that  morning, 
and  commended  the  sanctuarj^  and  the  mountain 
to  their  care,  saying  especially  to  Masseo:  "Fra 
Masseo,  know  that  it  is  my  mind  that  in  this  place 
should  abide  those  of  the  religious  who  fear  God  and 
are  the  best  of  my  order  :  the  superiors,  therefore, 
must  seek  to  place  the  best  of  the  brothers  here." 

And  then  he  sighed,  remembering  how  few  there 
were  now  of  such  !  Then  he  bade  Brothers  An- 
gelo,  Sylv^estro,  Ilium inato  and  Masseo  take  special 
care  of  the  spot  where  he  had  fasted  and  prayed. 
These  friars  he  left  to  care  for  Monte  Alverna  and  its 
shrines,  but  Brother  Leo  went  with  him — Fra  "■  Peco- 
rello  di  Dio,"  as  he  tenderly  called  him — the  man 
amongst  them  all  who  understood  him  best,  who 
has  most  lo\'ingly  portrayed  him  with  least  of 
vain  imagining,  most  of  insight,  and  who  alone  at 
that  time  knew  of  the  stigmata.  He  bade  the  four 
others  farewell,  each  and  all  again  and  again. 
"  Adieu  to  all,  adieu  O  mountain,  adieu  Monte 
Alverna,  adieu  mount  of  angels,  adieu  thou 
dearest  !  Brother  Falcon,  I  thank  thee  for  the 
kindness  thou  didst  use  to  me  I     Adieu,  adieu  sharp 


LAST  YEARS  183 

rock,  I  shall  not  come  to  visit  thee  again  !  Adieu 
rock,  adieu,  adieu,  adieu  rock,  which  didst  receive 
me  into  thy  bowels,  frustrating  the  cunning  Evil 
One  ;  we  shall  not  see  each  other  again  !  Adieu 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angioli ;  I  commend  to  thee 
my  children.   Mother  of  the  Eternal  Word  !  " 

A  copy  of  this  letter,  made  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, was  kept  at  San  Damiano  until  the  middle  of 
last  century,  when  it  was  transferred  to  the  monas- 
tery on  Monte  Alvema,  where  it  is  read  aloud  on 
every  anniversary  of  the  saint's  departure.  Count 
Orlando  sent  a  horse  for  his  use,  and  after  these 
charoes  and  farewells  he  mounted  and  becran  the 
long  descent  towards  Chiusi,  where  he  probably 
visited  the  count.  Then  riding  by  Monte  Arcoppe 
and  the  Foresto  he  came  to  the  summit  of  Monte 
Acuto,  whence  he  could  still  see  the  sacred  mountain, 
and  there  dismounting,  he  knelt  to  bid  a  last  farewell 
to  the  '*  Mountain  in  which  God  is  well  pleased  to 
dwell.  Adieu,  Monte  Alvema,  may  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son  and  God  the  Spirit  bless  thee,  abide 
in  peace,  for  we  shall  see  each  other  no  more !  " 

All  the  brothers  went  with  him  as  far  as  Monte 
Casale,  where  there  was  a  little  hermitage  in  which 
he  rested  several  days.  At  this  point  he  dismissed 
the  four  brothers,  to  whose  care  he  had  committed 
Monte  Alvema,  and  they  took  back  Count  Orlando's 
horse  to  Chiusi.  He  was  lost  in  meditation  while 
he  passed  from  village  to  village,  and  did  not 
know  that  he  was  making  a  triumphal  progress, 
marked  by  miracles. 


184  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

At  Citta  di  Castello  he  lingered,  preaching  and 
healing  for  a  whole  month,  and  then  winter  coming 
suddenly  he  started  for  the  Umbrian  plain  on  an 
ass,  led  by  the  peasant  who  lent  it,  and  whose 
churlish  temper  he  cured  by  his  gaiety  and  gentle- 
ness, during  a  rough  night  spent '  under  a  rock. 

He  stayed  a  few  hours  only  at  Santa  Maria  degli 
Angeli,  perhaps  fearful  that  God's  sacred  grace  of 
the  stigmata  might  become  known.  He  went  in 
the  strength  of  that  grace  on  a  missionary  tour 
in  Umbria.  But  he  was  compelled  to  make  it 
mounted  on  an  ass,  because  his  physical  force 
failed  daily.  His  growing  blindness  distressed  all 
those  who  loved  him.  Amongst  them  was  Elias, 
the  vicar-general,  in  whose  hands  the  government 
of  the  order  was  becoming  more  firmly  concen- 
trated. He  seems  at  this  time  to  have  used  his 
authority  sparingly  over  Francis,  but,  although  he 
sought  his  company,  and  was  with  him  during  part 
of  this  itinerary,  the  saint  most  carefully  concealed 
from  him  the  Divine  favour  bestowed  at  Alverna. 
They  were  at  Foligno  together  when  Elias  spoke 
of  a  vision,  in  which  it  had  been  revealed  to  him 
that  Francis  had  but  two  years  more  to  live.  Old 
age  had  descended  upon  him  suddenly.  Not  only 
were  his  eyes  darkened,  but  he  suffered  from 
constant  sickness  and  frequent  spitting  of  blood. 
Every  physical  organ  was  impaired,  and  he  was 
always  in  pain.  Fasts  and  austerities  and  poignant 
sorrow  had  accomplished  this  collapse. 

While  he  could  sing  for  joy  the  spare  table  of 


LAST  YEARS  185 

the  Lord  had  sufficed  to  keep  him  in  a  measure  of 
health,  but  when  grief  invaded  his  heart  the  whole 
fabric  of  the  man  broke  down. 

Intermittent  strife  between  Honorius  and  the 
Roman  citizens  forced  the  Pope  into  flight  in  the 
spring  of  12^25,  first  to  Tivoli,  and  then  to  Rieti, 
where  the  papal  court  was  established  till  the 
end  of  1226.  With  him  were  his  physicians, 
men  whose  small  skill  was  made  worthless  by  the 
nature  of  their  favourite  remedies,  prescribed  by 
the  dogmatic  teaching  of  centuries,  but  whose 
pretensions  gave  them  a  credit  to  which  they 
were  not  entitled.  Cardinal  Ugolino  was  anxious 
that  Francis  should  come  to  Rieti  to  have  his  eves 
examined.  He  wrote  an  affectionate  letter  to  this 
effect,  and  Brother  Elias  seconding  his  appeal, 
Francis  was  with  much  difficulty  persuaded  to  ac- 
cept his  invitation. 

His  own  forebodings  were  of  death,  for  few  could 
hope  to  survive  the  surgical  butcheries  of  that  age. 
He  decided  to  pay  Sister  Clare  a  farewell  \dsit 
before  going  to  Rieti.  It  was  near  the  end  of  July 
when  he  arrived  at  San  Damiano.  A  few  hours  after- 
wards he  was  seized  with  such  acute  pain  that  his 
departure  was  delayed,  Clare  and  the  sisters  nursed 
him  during  the  fortnight  of  his  illness.  He  was 
now  quite  blind,  but  desired  more  solitude  and 
greater  freedom  than  were  possible  within  the  walls 
of  San  Damiano.  Clare  with  her  own  hands  built 
a  large  hut  of  reeds  and  rushes  in  her  garden,  to 
which  he  was  removed,  and  where,  in  spite  of  an 


186  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

invasion  of  rats  and  mice  by  day  and  night,  which 
let  him  neither  eat  nor  sleep  in  peace,  he  recovered 
the  serenity  of  mind  and  the  joyousness  of  spirit 
which  had  so  energised  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
apostolate.  For  in  the  midst  of  trials,  which  the 
childish  mind  of  that  age  attributed  to  diabolic 
annoyance,  he  was  comforted  once  again  by  the 
voice  of  his  Master,  who  bade  him  rejoice  greatly 
in  his  tribulations  and  infirmities  and  heed  nothing 
but  the  priceless  treasure  which  God  had  given  him 
in  reward  of  them,  as  if  already  he  had  entered  into 
His  kingdom. 

His  soul  was  filled  with  rapture  and  overflowed 
in  praise,  and  the  sisters  often  heard  his  voice  lifted 
up  in  new  songs  while  he  walked  under  the  olive- 
trees.  The  vision  within  was  rendered  to  him  a 
thousand-fold  for  the  shadow  fallen  on  his  eyes. 

One  day  he  sat  at  table  with  the  sisters  and 
talked  to  St.  Clare.  Then  he  passed  into  a  rapture 
away  from  them  all.  The  Spirit  was  come  upon 
him  with  utterance  for  the  Canticle  of  the  Sim,  a 
Psalm  of  the  Creator's  glory  : — 

Most  high,  almighty  and  good  Lord, 

To  Thee  belong  lauds,  glory,  honour  and  all  blessing  ; 

To  Thee  alone,  most  high,  do  they  belong. 

And  none  is  worthy  to  speak  forth  Thy  name. 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  through  all  Thy  creatures, 

And  in  especial  for  the  lordly  Brother  Sun, 

Through  whom  Thou  givest  light  by  day  ; 

For  fair  is  he  and  radiant  with  great  splendour. 

And  symbolises  Thee,  O  Thou  most  high. 


LAST  YEARS  187 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  Sister  Moon, 
And  for  the  Stars  placed  in  the  heavens. 
Clear-shining,  of  great  value  and  beautiful. 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  Brother  Wind, 

And  for  the  Air,  and  for  the  Cloud,  and  for  all  Weather, 

Through  which  Thou  givest  bread  unto  Thy  creatures. 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  Sister  Water, 
For  she  is  very  useful,  lowly,  valuable  and  clean. 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  Brother  Fire, 

Through  whom  Thou  givest  light  by  night. 

For  he  is  beautiful  and  glad,  and  brave  and  strong. 

Be  Tliou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  Sister  Earth,  our  mother. 
For  she  feeds  us  and  maintains  us 

And  grows  the  varied  fruits,  and  tinted  blossoms  and  the 
grass. 


He  wished  to  send  for  Brother  Pacifico  to  arrange 
the  Canticle  of  the  Sun,  so  that  his  minstrels  might 
sing  it  everywhere.  He  rejoiced  because  the  Lord 
had  given  him  songs  of  praise  for  heaviness.  An- 
other was  composed  at  this  time,  for  the  comfort 
and  edification  of  the  Sisters  of  Poverty,  but  it  has 
been  lost. 

When  September  was  half-way  through,  he  went 
to  Rieti,  resting  on  the  way  with  the  poor  priest  of 
San  Fabiano,  whose  hospitality  was  strained  by  the 
crowd  of  visitors  seeking  Francis,  even  prelates  and 
their  following  not  disdaining  to  pluck  his  ripening 
grapes,  so  that  he  feared  for  his  vintage  until  the 


188  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

saint  reassured  him  and  promised  him  more  than 
the  average  measure  of  wine. 

The  Bishop  of  Rieti  was  his  host,  and  showered 
attentions  upon  him.  Already  the  Church  was 
awake  to  his  value,  not  as  an  inspiration  and  an 
example,  but  as  an  article  of  merchandise,  and  he 
had  a  sample  of  its  solicitude  for  his  remains  in 
eager  demands  for  morsels  of  his  clothing,  for  his 
hair,  for  even  the  cuttings  of  his  nails,  which  dis- 
turbed his  stay  at  the  Vescovado.  He  asked  to  be 
transferred  to  the  hermitage  of  Monte  Colombo. 
Various  remedies  had  been  vainly  tried  for  his  eyes, 
and  the  physicians  decided  on  cautery.  The  heat 
of  the  iron  gave  him  a  moment's  panic,  but  making 
over  it  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  he  cried  :  "  Brother 
Fire,  beautiful  amongst  all  creatures,  show  me 
favour  now  ;  thou  knowest  how  I  love  thee,  show 
me  courtesy  this  day." 

And  when  the  operation  was  over  he  rallied 
the  brothers,  who  had  fled  from  witnessing  it : 
"  O  cowards,  why  did  you  flee  ?  I  felt  no  pain. 
Brother  Doctor,  if  need  be,  begin  again." 

He  was  tortured  with  every  contrivance  of  the 
faculty,  steeped  then  in  Cimmerian  darkness,  hack- 
ing, plastering,  cauterising,  and  all  in  vain.  He 
was  brought  back  to  Rieti  for  their  convenience, 
and  longed  for  some  assuagement  of  his  pain.  He 
asked  a  brother  to  borrow  a  guitar  and  play  to  him, 
but  the  weakling  would  not  do  it  lest  it  should  be 
counted  as  a  scandal.  So  in  the  peace  of  midnight 
an  angel  played  to  him  upon  a  violin,  and  soothed 


LAST  YEARS  189 

him  into  joy  unutterable  with  the  melodies  of 
heaven. 

When  the  cures  were  given  up  he  felt  a  little 
better,  and  eager  to  redeem  the  time,  he  went 
from  hermitage  to  hermitage  in  the  valley  of  Rieti, 
preaching  to  the  peasants  and  townspeople  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  each.  He  spent  Christmas  in  a 
cell  near  Poggio  Buscone,  whither  crowds  came 
daily  to  listen  to  him.  "You  think  me  a  great 
saint,  do  you,"  he  said  to  them  ;  "  what  will  you 
say  when  you  know  that  I  did  not  fast  all  Advent  ?  " 

At  Sant'  Eleuterio,  Greccio,  Sant'  Urbano,  he 
preached  or  kept  solitude  in  the  hermitage  at 
hand.  The  weather  was  cold  and  he  sewed  bits 
of  cloth  upon  his  own  tunic  and  that  of  his  com- 
panion. Some  one  gave  him  the  skin  of  a  fox 
for  lining,  and  although  he  gladly  accepted  it,  he 
sewed  a  bit  of  the  fur  outside,  that  all  might  see 
how  little  he  mortified  the  flesh.  It  may  have  been 
during  this  winter  that  one  day  when  he  was  near 
a  fire  the  flame  caught  his  under-garment  and  his 
companion  put  it  out.  "  Nay,  dear  brother,  harm 
not  Brother  Fire,"  he  said  ;  "  if  he  wishes  to  eat  my 
clothes,  why  should  he  not  ?  "  His  joyous  humour 
had  returned  to  him — blind,  enfeebled,  in  constant 
pain,  suffering  cold  and  exposure — because  once 
more  he  was  about  his  Master's  business.  But  the 
time  was  short. 

In  spring  he  was  urged  to  go  to  Siena  to  consult 
a  physician  who  had  some  fame  as  an  oculist. 
Four  of  the  brothers  accompanied  him  to  a  place 


190  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

given  to  the  Franciscans  by  Bonaventure,  where 
Francis  fell  again  grievously  ill,  vomiting  blood  in 
such  quantities  that  his  companions  wept  with 
mingled  sorrow  and  terror,  expecting  his  last  hour. 
He  asked  that  a  saintly  brother  living  at  Arezzo 
might  be  sent  for,  and  dictated  to  him  a  benediction 
of  all  his  friars. 

Brother  Elias  hastened  to  Siena  on  receiving 
news  of  his  condition,  and  yielded  to  the  saint's 
desire  to  return  to  his  beloved  Umbrian  plain.  But 
it  was  mid- April  before  he  was  fit  to  be  carried  in 
a  litter,  and  then  the  journey  began  by  stages, 
rendered  very  slow  by  his  constant  relapses.  Cor- 
tona  was  the  first  halting-place,  for  the  way  was 
easy  and  the  hermitage  pleasant,  but  a  seizure 
followed  this  transit,  and  some  days  were  lost  be- 
fore his  bearers  could  remove  him.  A  roundabout 
route  was  chosen,  for  it  was  impossible  to  pass  by 
Perugia,  where  the  citizens  were  on  the  watch  to 
possess  themselves  of  the  saint's  body,  dead  or 
alive,  and  were  prepared  to  take  it  by  violence. 
So  their  passage  from  stage  to  stage  had  to  be  care- 
fully and  secretly  chosen,  and  they  made  a  long 
loop  by  Gubbio  and  Nocera.  He  rested  many 
weeks  at  Bagnara,  a  hermitage  above  Nocera, 
famous  still  for  healing  waters  and  fine  air,  whence 
the  Topino  flows  green  as  the  sea  down  its  shelv- 
ing and  rocky  bed,  to  girdle  Foligno's  walls  and  to 
cross  the  plain. 

News  was  sent  to  Assisi  of  his  arrival  and  of  his 
renewed  illness.     It  was  certain  now  that  the  end 


LAST  YEARS  191 

was  near.  The  Assisans  sent  soldiers  to  carry  his 
litter,  and  to  defend  its  precious  burden  should 
Perugia  attempt  to  capture  it.  Down  through 
Nocera,  and  by  the  long  descent  leading  over  a  low 
pass  between  Subasio's  bastions  and  the  hill  which 
buttresses  them  on  the  east,  the  soldiers  bore  him, 
turning  towards  Assisi  on  the  southern  slope  and 
taking  the  path  which  lies  beneath  Sasso  Rosso 
and  the  Benedictine  Convent.  A  little  way  below 
the  Castle  of  Sasso  Rosso  they  halted  at  midday  to 
rest  and  eat  at  a  village  on  the  slope  walled  and 
under  Assisi 's  lordship.  Here  a  poor  man  gladly 
gave  Francis  shelter,  while  his  escort  sought  to 
purchase  food.  But  they  returned  to  him  empty- 
handed,  saying  in  jest:  "Brother,  needs  must  you 
give  us  some  of  your  alms,  for  here  can  we  have 
nought  to  eat."  "  No,"  said  he,  "  for  you  put  your 
trust  in  your  flies  and  pence  and  not  in  God.  Turn 
back  and  ask  an  alms  for  the  love  of  God,  and  by 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit  they  will  give 
unto  you  abundantly."  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that 
the  Lord's  table  was  well  supplied. 

His  maladies  were  now  increased  by  dropsy  and 
his  feet  were  swollen  out  of  shape. 

The  Assisans  came  out  to  meet  him  with  frenzied 
joy  that  they  had  secured  his  dying  body.  He  was 
taken  to  the  bishop's  palace,  in  the  piazza  where 
twenty  years  before  he  had  renounced  the  world. 
Guido  was  still  in  possession,  and  had  a  quarrel  on 
his  hands  with  the  podesta,  or  high  bailiff,  of 
Assisi,  whom  he  had  excommunicated  and  forbidden 


192  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

to  do  commerce  with  his  clergy.  The  town  suffered 
in  pocket,  and  was  agitated  by  the  unseemly  vari- 
ance between  its  commercial  and  spiritual  chiefs. 

Into  this  disturbed  atmosphere  the  tender,  peace- 
loving  servant  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  was  brought. 
He  pondered  and  prayed  for  such  an  inspiration  as 
should  end  the  discord,  and  it  came  to  him  robed 
in  simplicity  and  grace.  He  composed  a  new  stanza 
for  his  canticle  : — 

Praised  be  Thou,  O  my  Lord,  for  those  who  forgive  for 

love  of  Thee, 
And  who  bear  infirmities  and  tribulations  ; 
Blessed  are  those  who  endure  in  peace. 
For  by  Thee,  O  most  High,  shall  they  be  crowned. 

Then  he  sent  to  invite  the  high  bailiff  to  come 
into  the  piazza  of  the  cloister  with  his  fellow-mag- 
nates, and  asked  the  bishop  to  meet  them  there 
with  his  canons.  Francis  could  not  be  present,  but 
he  sent  two  of  the  four  brothers,  whose  charge  it 
was  to  tend  him,  Leo,  Angelo,  Rufino  and  Masseo, 
and  bade  them  sing  to  those  gathered  in  the  piazza 
the  Canticle  of  the  Sun,  with  this  new  stanza  at  the 
end,  beginning  with  a  message  from  himself:  ''The 
blessed  Francis  in  his  sickness  hath  made  a  Lauds 
of  the  Lord  as  concerning  His  creatures  to  the 
praise  of  the  Lord  Himself  and  to  the  edification 
of  our  neighbour.  Whence  he  doth  beseech  you 
that  ye  will  hearken  thereunto  with  great  devout- 
ness," 

It  happened  that  the  high  bailiff  was  especially 


LAST  YEARS  193 

devoted  to  the  saint,  and  rising,  he  listened  to  their 
singing  with  hands  clasped  as  if  in  reverence, 
and  accepted  the  counsel  of  peace  as  coming  from 
the  lips  of  God.  "In  truth  I  say  unto  you,"  he 
cried  weeping,  "that  not  only  my  Lord  Bishop, 
whom  I  do  desire  and  ought  to  have  for  my  Lord, 
but  were  it  one  that  had  slain  mine  own  brother 
or  ray  son,  him  would  I  forgive."  And  then  he 
flung  himself  at  the  bishop's  feet  saying  ;  "  Behold, 
I  am  ready  to  do  all  that  thou  dost  wish,  for  the 
love  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  His  servant, 
the  blessed  Francis.  ' 

The  bishop  raised  him  witli  both  hands,  saying  : 
"  According  to  my  office  I  should  be  humble,  but 
because  I  am  naturally  quick  of  temper  thou  must 
needs  forgive  me."  And  embracing  each  other  with 
tenderness,  they  kissed  each  other. 


13 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TESTAMENT,  DEATH  AND  CANONISATION 

1226—1230 

Francis  at  the  Vescovado — Laudes  Domini — His  Preoccupa- 
tion with  the  Future  of  the  Order — Mental  Agony — 
Letter  to  the  Order — "  Welcome  Sister  Death" — Letter 
and  Message  to  St.  Clare — Benediction  of  Assisi — The 
Testament — Jacopa  di  Settisoli — Death — Funeral  Pro- 
cession— San  Damiano — San  Giorgio — Letter  written  by 
Elias — The  Collis  Inferni — Speculum  Perfectionis — 
Gregory  IX.— Elias  Deposed — Building  of  San  Francesco 
— Canonisation  of  St.  Francis — Completion  of  the  Lower 
Church — The  Saint's  Body  hidden  by  Elias. 

FRANCIS  remained  in  the  agony  of  protracted 
death  for  more  than  two  months  at  the  Vesco- 
vado. The  four  brothers  appointed  to  serve  him 
were,  as  we  have  seen,  followers  of  the  gospel  Rule, 
true  sons  of  Poverty.  The  monastic  brothers  were 
kept  away  from  his  presence,  but  enough  of  infor- 
mation about  the  degeneration  which  had  followed 
organisation  penetrated  to  his  ears  to  make  these 
weeks  a  long  drawn-out  martyrdom.  He  was  in  all 
things  eager  to  submit  to  the  will  of  God,  but  he 
confessed  that  three  days  of  such  agony,  bodily  and 
(194) 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION     195 

mental,  were  worse  than  any  death  the  cruelty  of 
man  could  devise. 

He  was  preoccupied  with  the  future  of  the 
order.  In  spite  of  betrayal  and  disappointment, 
he  cherished  a  hope  that  reaction  would  restore  its 
first  simplicity.  This  hope  was  the  inspiration  of  a 
letter  addressed  to  faithful  souls,  who  might  bring 
back  the  happy  days  of  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ. 

While  he  lay  there  soldiers  watched  the  palace 
day  and  night,  relieved  at  intervals.  This  precau- 
tion must  have  intensified  his  suffering,  revealing 
as  it  did  such  anxiety  to  keep  the  fragments  to  be 
left  by  death,  such  indifference  to  the  whole  im- 
mortal purpose  of  his  spirit.  But  even  this  he  bore 
without  complaining,  bidding  the  brothers  sing 
aloud  from  time  to  time,  that  those  who  stood  without 
might  be  refreshed  and  edified.  For  himself  there 
was  nothing  so  consoling  as  the  praises  of  the  Lord, 

Indeed,  his  readiness  to  break  out  in  these 
brought  upon  him  a  reproof  from  Vicar-General 
Elias,  who  deemed  such  cheerfulness  a  desecration 
of  the  holy  gloom  religiously  pertinent  to  death. 
"  Give  me  leave,  brother,"  cried  the  saint,  "  to  re- 
joice in  the  Lord  and  in  His  praises,  and  in  mine 
own  infirmities,  seeing  that  by  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  I  am  so  joined  and  made  one  with  my 
Lord,  that,  by  His  mercy,  well  may  I  be  glad  in 
Him  most  Highest." 

Alas  !  these  intervals  of  joy  were  few,  for  his 
heart  was  burdened  by  a  sorrow  which  his  com- 
panions rather  quickened  than  assuaged. 


196  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

"Where  are  they  who  have  taken  my  brothers 
from  me  ?  Where  are  they  who  have  robbed  me 
of  my  children  ? "  So  in  fever  crises  he  would 
lament,  and  then  he  would  reproach  himself,  as  if 
it  were  his  fault  alone,  and  his  spirit  would  be 
shaken  at  the  thought  that  God  would  hold  him 
responsible  for  the  cowardice  and  selfishness  by 
which  he  had  wrecked  the  order.  His  cries  of 
agony  troubled  his  entertainers.  They  were 
awkward  facts  for  all  in  authority,  since  it  was 
impossible  to  smother  them,  impossible  to  dissoci- 
ate  from  his  deathbed  those  anguished  protests 
against  their  action,  or  to  misrepresent  them  as 
humble  acquiescence.  The  four  brothers  who  were 
his  companions  were  witnesses  to  their  truth,  and 
perhaps  it  was  partly  due  to  this  that  these  men 
were  persecuted  in  aller  years  by  the  friars.  His 
natural  masterfulness  asserted  itself  in  one  of  these 
outbreaks. 

"  Could  I  but  be  present  at  the  Chapter-General 
I  would  let  them  know  my  will." 

We  are  forced  to  believe  the  worst  of  Ugolino  and 
Elias.  The  facts  maintain  that  they  had  managed 
Francis  by  means  of  the  most  daring  duplicity,  and 
that  he  was  led  to  believe  that  his  intention  for  the 
order  would  be  all  the  more  secured  by  its  organisa- 
tion on  the  lines  of  monasticism.  Good  men  both 
the  average  moral  standard  would  admit  them  to 
be,  but  guilty  of  sins  of  the  soul  as  black  as  hell. 

It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  he  dictated 
the   letter  already  mentioned.      It  is  addressed  to 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION     197 

the  entire  Franciscan  community,  its  ministers,  di- 
rectors, priests,  friars  and  tertiaries.      It  begins  : — 

''  Listen,  sirs,  you  who  are  my  sons  and  my 
brothers,  give  ear  to  my  words.  Open  your  hearts 
and  obey  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God.  Keep  His 
commandments  with  all  your  heart  and  give  per- 
fect heed  to  His  counsels.  Praise  Him  for  He  is 
good,  and  glorify  Him  in  your  actions.  God  has 
sent  you  throughout  the  world,  that  by  word  and 
example  you  may  bear  witness  to  Him  and  teach 
all  that  He  alone  is  omnipotent.  Persevere  in 
discipline  and  in  obedience,  and  hold  to  that  which 
you  have  promised  Him  with  willing  and  firm 
mind."  There  follow  instructions  to  the  priests, 
amongst  them  this  perfect  counsel :  "  How  holy, 
pure  and  worthy  should  be  the  priest,  who  touches 
with  his  hands,  who  receives  into  his  mouth  and 
into  his  heart,  who  distributes  to  others  Jesus, 
living,  glorified,  the  sight  of  Whom  rejoices  the 
angels.  Understand  your  dignity,  brother  priests, 
and  be  holy,  for  He  is  holy."  This  section  of  the 
letter  ends  with  prayer.  ^'  All-powerful,  eternal, 
just  and  merciful  God,  give  to  us,  to  us  unhappy 
poor  ones,  to  do  for  Thy  sake,  what  we  know  to 
be  Thy  will,  and  to  will  always  that  which  pleases 
Thee  ;  so  that  purified  within,  illuminated  and  made 
ardent  by  the  flame  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  may 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Thy  beloved  Son,  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

But  of  still  greater  importance  is  the  latter  half 
of  this  letter,  addressed  as  it  is  to  all  Christians, 


198  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

whether  clergy  or  laity,  whether  men  or  women, 
to  all  those  who  live  throughout  the  world. 

These  he  entreats  to  go  forward,  to  do  far  more 
than  if  they  were  "  simple  Christians,"  for  they 
must  renounce  all  that  is  not  necessary,  and  not 
alone  must  they  abhor  all  vice  and  all  fleshly 
sins,  but  they  must  love  their  enemies,  do  good  to 
those  who  hate  them,  obey  their  Redeemer's  pre- 
cepts and  counsels,  deny  themselves  and  keep 
their  body  under  control.  "  Be  not  wise  after 
the  flesh,"  he  wrote  to  them,  ''but  simple,  hum- 
ble and  pure."  And  after  many  such  injunctions, 
he  ended  :  "  I,  Brother  Francis,  your  little  servant, 
I  pray  and  conjure  you  by  that  love  which  is  God 
— I,  ready  to  kiss  your  feet — to  receive  with  hu- 
mility and  love  these  words  and  all  others  which 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  spoken,  and  to  conform 
your  conduct  to  them.  And  let  those  who  receive 
them  devoutly,  and  who  understand  them,  make 
them  known  to  others.  And  if  tliey  so  persevere 
unto  the  end,  may  they  be  blessed  by  Father,  Son 
and  Holy  Spirit.     Amen." 

Such  was  the  saint's  ideal  for  the  conduct  of  those 
born  into  the  Kingdom  of  God,  a  reflection  of  its 
Founder's  laws. 

Many  beautiful  incidents  of  this  long,  last  illness 
have  been  preserved,  and  chiefly  by  Brother  Leo 
in  the  Mirror  of  Perfection,  which  he  wrote  while 
all  was  fresh  in  his  memory.  He  tells  us  how 
Francis  sent  for  Brother  Bernard  to  share  a  dainty 
dish,  which  had  been  prepared  for  him,  and  how  he 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    199 

blessed  him  as  the  first  brother  given  him  by  God, 
and  enjoined  on  the  minister-general  and  the  whole 
order  that  he  should  be  loved  and  honoured.  This 
benediction  Brother  Elias  had  the  audacity  to  arro- 
gate to  himself,  as  we  read  in  the  first  biography  of 
Francis,  by  Tomaso  of  Celano,  written  by  order  of 
Gregory  IX.  in  1228,  for  the  confutation  of  the 
Mirror  of  Perfection,  and  mainly  inspired  by  Elias. 
We  prefer  to  accept  Brother  Leo's  account  of  the 
incident. 

How  the  saint's  wish  was  fulfilled  may  be  gathered 
from  the  fact  that  later  Bernard  was  hunted  like  a 
wild  beast  from  place  to  place,  and  was  saved  from 
a  violent  death  only  through  the  kindness  of  a 
wood- cutter,  who  kept  him  hidden  for  two  years 
in  a  forest  upon  the  summit  of  Monte  Sefro,  not 
far  from  Nocera.  Francis  foresaw  these  trials,  but 
predicted  peace  at  the  end  for  Brother  Bernard, 
as  it  befel. 

One  day  an  old  friend  from  Arezzo  came  to  see 
him.  He  was  a  doctor,  and  Francis  begged  him 
to  speak  candidly  about  his  state.  Thus  pressed. 
Bono  told  him  that  his  infirmity  was  incurable, 
and  that  by  the  end  of  September,  or  early  in 
October,  he  must  die.  Francis  raised  his  hands  to 
heaven  and  said  aloud:  "Welcome,  my  Sister 
Death  ! " 

He  set  himself  cheerfully  to  care  for  the  last 
things,  talking  to  one  of  the  brothers,  probably 
Leo,  who  sought  to  gladden  him  more  by  re- 
minding  him   that  comfort  and  infinite  joy  would 


200  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

be  his,  "  for  thou  shalt  pass  away  from  sore  travail 
unto  everlasting  peace,  away  from  short  poverty 
unto  endless  wealth,  away  from  brief  death  unto 
the  life  that  faileth  not,  wherein  face  to  face  thou 
shalt  behold  thy  Lord,  whom  thou  hast  here  loved 
with  so  great  a  love." 

Whereat  Francis  began  to  offer  praises  to  the 
Lord,  and  bade  the  brother  fetch  Angelo  to  him, 
that  both  might  sing  the  Canticle  of  the  Sun.  They 
chanted  it  while  tears  streamed  from  their  eyes, 
and  as  they  sang  he  prepared  a  new  stanza  for 
them,  which  they  added  to  the  rest.     It  ran: — • 

Be  Thou  praised,  O  my  Lord,  for  our  Sister  Death, 
From  whom  the  body  of  none  living  may  escape  ; 
Woe  unto  them  who  die  in  mortal  sin  ; 
Blessed  they  who  shall  be  found  according  to  Thy 

most  holy  will. 
Unto  whom  the  second  death  can  do  no  hurt. 

This  they  sang,  and  ended  with  a  Doxology : — 

Praise  ye  and  bless  my  Lord, 

And  thank  and  serve  Him  with  a  great  humility. 

It  was  probably  before  he  left  the  Vescovado 
that  Clare  entreated  permission  to  see  him,  for  she 
herself  was  ill  at  the  time  and  feared  to  die  without 
his  prayers.  Apparently  the  Poor  Ladies  did  not 
know  how  near  to  death  he  was  himself,  and  he, 
unwilling  to  give  them  pain,  dictated  a  bright  letter 
for  their  spiritual  consolation,  and  promised  by  word 
of  mouth  that  they  should  see  him  once  more.  He 
bade  them  rest  assured  of  pardon  for  all  unconscious 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    201 

negligence  of  the  Rule,  and  he  asked  them  not  to 
carry  their  austerities  too  far,  but  to  keep  up  their 
hearts  and  preserv^e  a  cheerful  mind,  putting  from 
them  all  superfluity  of  sorrow.  And  he  composed 
a  song  of  praise  in  the  vernacular,  with  music  to 
which  they  might  sing  it.  All  his  thoughts  were 
turned  to  praise,  and  the  sound  of  chanting  filled 
his  chamber,  to  the  bewilderment  of  the  Assisans, 
who  held  that  a  dying  saint  should  be  meditating 
on  mortality,  with  which  that  lovely  spirit  had  no 
commerce  in  life  or  in  death.  His  joy  was  some- 
what of  a  scandal  to  those  earth-bound  citizens, 
and  both  because  he  wished  to  die  at  Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  and  because  his  host  was  scared  at  his 
celestial  indiscretions,  it  was  decided  to  carry  him 
thither  on  a  litter. 

This  was  about  the  last  week  of  September,  when 
Umbrian  grapes  hang  ripe  on  the  festooned  trees 
and  the  gatherers  are  busy  for  the  vintage.  He  had 
become  suddenly  worse.  If  he  were  to  die  at  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli  the  bearers  must  hasten.  Their 
way  was  the  same  that  Clare  followed  on  the  memor- 
able night  when  first  she  took  her  stand  side  by  side 
with  Lady  Poverty,  but  it  was  in  the  radiance  and 
warmth  of  a  summer  noon  that  they  carried  him 
down  from  the  Porta  Mojano,  through  olive-garths 
and  past  farmhouses,  turning  to  the  right  by  the 
old  road  which  led  to  the  Hospital  of  San  Salvatore 
delle  Pareti,  built  by  the  Congregation  of  the  Cross- 
bearers.  Francis  could  see  nothing  of  the  sunlight, 
of  the  olives,  of  the  homesteads.     He  was  borne  by 


202  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

brothers  whom  he  loved,  and  he  sought  to  reaUse 
the  well-remerabered  road  by  asking  them  from  time 
to  time  what  point  they  had  reached. 

When  they  set  him  down  by  the  hospital  to  rest 
awhile  before  they  began  the  long,  straight  road,  he 
asked  them  to  turn  his  litter  so  that  his  face  might 
be  set  towards  Assisi.  Then  raising  himself  a  little, 
he  lifted  his  hand  in  benediction,  saying  :  "  By 
reason  of  Thine  abundant  mercy  Thou  hast  shown 
forth  the  multitude  of  Thy  mercies  in  this  city 
above  all  other  cities,  and  hast  chosen  her  unto 
Thyself  to  be  the  place  and  habitation  of  them  that 
in  truth  acknowledge  Thee  and  give  glory  to  Thy 
holy  name.  Wherefore,  I  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  father  of  mercies,  that  she  may  be  for 
ever  the  place  and  habitation  of  them  that  do  truly 
acknowledge  Thee  and  glorify  Thy  blessed  and 
most  glorious  name  from  everlasting  unto  everlast- 
ing.     Amen." 

When  he  had  so  blessed  Assisi,  the  procession 
formed  again,  and  he  was  borne  to  the  infirmary 
hut  at  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli.  He  revived  in  its 
freshness  and  silence.  An  interval  of  power  was 
vouchsafed  to  him  before  the  end.  Meditating 
on  the  road  by  which  God  had  led  him,  and  on  the 
revolt  of  the  order,  it  occurred  to  him  that  to  be- 
queath an  account  of  his  call  and  his  obedience  of 
the  revealed  will  of  God  for  him  and  his  followers 
might  be  well  alike  for  those  who  loved  him  and  for 
the  reconversion  of  the  friars.  The  anxiety  shown 
to  exalt  his  relics  may  have  suggested  to  him  that 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    203 

his  ideal  might  in  time  secure  acknowledgment ; 
that  the  spirit  of  little  Brother  Francis  might  over- 
come where  his  presence  and  example  had  failed. 
When  that  time  came  it  would  help  to  have  a  clear 
statement  of  his  vocation  and  his  purpose.  In  this 
mind  he  dictated  his  testament,  his  bequest  of 
poverty  to  all  faithful  friars.  He  shows  a  pathetic 
anxiety  that  this  document  should  be  accepted  as 
meaning  simply  what  it  says  ;  that  no  transforming 
glosses  should  be  applied  to  its  text,  twisting  it  out 
of  its  intention.  Well  did  he  remember  how  the 
gospel  Rule  had  been  manipulated,  how  the  plain 
directions  of  Christ  had  been  belied  into  cunningly 
devised  fables.  Nor  did  he  ask  that  his  testament 
should  take  the  place  of  the  Rule  of  1223,  only  that 
it  should  be  read  at  the  Chapters-General  as  well  as 
that  Rule,  that  the  friars  might  remember  his  con- 
ception of  the  gospel. 

This  clause  led  Elias  and  Pope  Gregory  to  absolve 
all  the  brethren  from  obedience  to  the  testament, 
for  the  one  document  contrasted  too  powerfully  with 
the  other.  He  forbade  the  friars,  too,  to  seek  privi- 
leges from  the  court  of  Rome,  whether  for  pro- 
tection, for  preaching,  for  possession  of  church  or 
convent. 

Indeed,  no  part  of  this  testament  could  be  pleas- 
ing to  authority,  for  throughout  is  the  essential 
quality  of  the  Spouse  of  Poverty,  tenacious  obedi- 
ence to  the  Lord  who  called  him,  tenacious  disre- 
gard for  the  power  which  has  dared  to  behttle  that 
Lord. 


204  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

To  all  who  shared  this  obedience  he  bequeathed 
the  blessing  of  God  the  Father  in  the  world  above, 
the  blessing  of  His  beloved  Son  and  of  the  Com- 
forter in  this  world.  "  And  I,"  he  ended,  "  little 
Brother  Francis,  your  servant,  I  confirm  as  much  as 
I  am  able  this  most  holy  benediction." 

Then  he  dictated  a  testament  for  the  Sisters  of 
Poverty,  blessing  them  too  and  commending  them 
to  the  brethren  as  members  of  one  family  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

The  end  was  near ;  his  thoughts  were  toward 
those  whose  spiritual  life  he  had  helped,  who  were 
dear  to  him  as  children  to  a  father.  Amongst 
them  was  a  Roman  lady  given  to  hospitality  towards 
him  and  his  companions,  a  devout  tertiary  and  his 
personal  friend.  He  felt  some  anxiety  that  she 
should  be  acquainted  with  his  condition,  lest  the 
news  of  his  death  should  too  greatly  grieve  her. 
So  he  dictated  a  letter  to  Brother  Jacopa,  as  he 
used  to  call  her,  praying  her  to  come  to  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli,  bringing  with  her  new  cloth 
of  the  colour  of  ashes,  new  cord  to  girdle  his  burial 
garment,  wax  for  the  funeral  lights,  and,  remem- 
bering her  delight  in  hospitality,  he  asked  her  to 
make  for  him  some  little  almond  cakes,  like  some 
which  he  had  eaten  in  her  house,  called  mostac- 
cioli. 

The  letter  was  written  and  put  on  one  side  until  a 
messenger  was  found,  but  before  he  set  out,  there 
came  a  knocking  at  the  door,  and  lo  !  the  lady 
herself  stood  without,  her  maid  with  her,  carrying 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    205 

just  the  things  which  Francis  had  asked  her 
to  bring.  For  it  had  so  happened  that  while  she 
was  praying  the  day  before  his  very  thoughts  had 
been  revealed  to  her,  and  she  had  gathered  all 
together,  and  had  hastened  to  reach  the  plain  ere 
it  was  too  late.  Special  permission  was  granted  to 
her  to  enter  the  hut  and  to  serve  him  with  the  little 
cakes,  but  he  tasted  them  only,  although  he  lay 
upon  his  couch  in  radiant  peace.  Madonna  Jacopa 
stayed  until  the  end  ;  his  shroud-habit  was  made  of 
the  grey  cloth  which  she  brought  and  the  wax  was 
turned  into  candles. 

September  closed,  and  Thursday,  1st  October, 
was  come.  He  desired  that  day  to  signify  that  he 
passed  from  life  into  immortality  the  faithful  Spouse 
of  Poverty,  and  bade  his  companions  place  him  un- 
clad upon  the  ground,  where,  lifting  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  he  said  :  ''  I  have  done  my  duty,  may  Christ 
teach  you  yours."  But  the  brother  appointed  to 
be  his  warden  took  a  tunic  and  under  garment  and 
clothed  him,  imposing  obedience  on  him,  as  these 
things  had  been  given  to  him  in  alms,  and  he  was 
laid  upon  his  bed  again,  whence  he  blessed  them, 
laying  his  hand  upon  each  head  in  turn.  All  the 
friars  in  residence  at  the  Portiuncula  were  called  to 
his  side  to  receive  the  blessing,  and  on  this  occasion 
Brother  Elias  was  present.  Then  he  broke  bread 
and  gave  it  to  them  all,  bidding  them  eat  it.  After- 
wards he  asked  Brothers  Angelo  and  Leo  to  sing  the 
Canticle  of  the  Sun,  joining  his  failing  voice  to  theirs. 
Then  he  commenced  to  chant  Psalm  cxlii. 


206  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

"  I  cried  unto  the  Lord  with  my  voice  ;  with 
my  voice  unto  the  Lord  did  I  make  my  suppli- 
cation." 

Again,  on  their  petition,  he  pardoned  the  errors 
of  his  brethren,  including  those  absent,  and  lay 
through  Friday  until  Saturday  evening  in  the  peace 
of  God,  "  his  refuge  and  his  portion  in  the  land  of 
the  living".  Around  him  stood  the  faithful  few, 
weeping  as  they  chanted  songs  of  praise.  On 
Saturday  evening,  3rd  October,  j  ust  after  vespers, 
a  flock  of  crested  larks  wheeled  about  the  infirmary 
hut,  and  seemed  to  all  like  a  winged  choir  sent 
"to  exalt  the  Lord  along  with  him  ".  They  were 
his  best  loved  birds,  for  "  their  intent  seemed  ever 
toward  the  praise  of  God  ". 

When  night  fell  Francis  had  gone  to  the  presence 
of  his  Lord, 

"  He  hungers  no  more,  neither  thirsts  any  more, 
and  God  has  wiped  away  all  tears  from  his  eyes." 

Next  day,  Sunday,  4th  October,  1226,  his  body 
was  borne  to  the  Church  of  San  Giorgio,  where  it 
was  provisionally  entombed.  This  haste  was  due 
to  Brother  Elias,  who  seems  to  have  made  all  his 
preparations  in  advance  of  the  expected  death. 
Francis  had  desired  to  be  buried  in  the  little  church 
of  the  Portiuncula,  but  the  Assisans,  who  flocked 
down  to  the  plain  when  the  tidings  of  his  death 
reached  them  at  dawn,  were  determined  that  his 
remains  should  be  protected,  lest  the  Perugians 
took  them  by  force. 

The  citizens  formed  themselves  into  a  procession. 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION     207 

headed  by  Elias  and  the  friars  ;  it  resembled  a 
triumph  rather  than  a  funeral,  so  joyous  were  the 
good  people  over  their  treasure,  but  some  tears 
were  shed  on  the  way.  A  detour  was  made  to  San 
Damiano  that  Clare  and  her  sisters  might  look 
upon  his  face  once  more,  and  raising  his  body  from 
the  bier  the  friars  held  it  up  to  the  opening  where 
the  sisters  were  used  to  communicate,  that  they 
might  touch  him  and  bid  him  farewell,  which  each 
of  them  did  with  weeping  and  lamentation,  ''  see- 
ing themselves  made  orphans  of  the  consolations 
and  admonitions  of  so  dear  a  father". 

Then,  waving  the  oak  and  olive  branches  which 
they  carried,  and  breaking  out  once  more  into 
hymns  of  praise,  the  citizens  climbed  up  through 
the  olive-yard  and  entered  Assisi  by  the  Porta 
Mojano,  moving  slowly  up  to  San  Giorgio.  Here, 
where  he  had  been  taught  in  childhood,  and  where 
his  first  sermon  had  been  preached,  he  was  laid  in 
an  oblong  marble  urn  covered  with  an  iron  grating, 
and  a  guard  was  set  by  day  and  night. 

Elias  announced  the  death  of  St.  Francis  in  a 
Latin  letter  addressed  to  Brother  Gregory  of  Naples 
— at  that  time  Provincial  Minister  of  France — but 
intended  for  the  whole  order.  This  letter,  like 
the  sarcophagus  at  San  Giorgio,  was  evidently  pre- 
pared before  the  event  of  which  it  treated.  There 
are  no  records  of  those  most  touching  and  inspiring 
weeks  at  the  \  escovado  and  the  infirmary.  We 
gather,  while  spelling  through  its  paragraphs,  that 
it  was  the  result  of  his  discovery  of  the  stigmata. 


208  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

which  on  his  bed  of  sickness  Francis  was  no  long^er 
able  to  conceal.  Elias  seizes  on  this  miracle  for  his 
purpose,  not  on  the  holy  living  and  blessed  dying. 
This  alone  seems  memorable  to  him,  this  glorifies 
the  father  of  the  order,  for  this  the  brethren  are 
to  praise  God,  not  for  the  life  lived,  the  example 
given.  He  interpolates  in  haste,  as  writing  a  post- 
script :  "  In  the  first  hour  of  the  night  preceding 
the  fourth  of  October  our  father  and  brother  Francis 
passed  to  Christ."  And  then  he  resumes  his  in- 
junctions to  mourn,  to  pray,  to  say  masses. 

In  fact,  Francis  sealed  by  the  stigmata  was  a 
more  valuable  relic  than  Francis  the  follower  of 
Christ,  and  this  letter  is  the  best  commentary  on 
the  saint's  anxiety  to  keep  the  marks  a  secret. 
Alas !  his  care  for  the  spiritual  life  of  the  order 
was  defeated  now.  The  stigmata  were  matter  of 
common  talk.  Already  crowds  hastened  to  Assisi 
and  San  Giorgio  ;  already  miracles  were  ascribed 
to  the  wasted  frame  which  he  had  left  behind. 

Brother  Elias  rose  to  the  height  of  his  oppor- 
tunity. For  such  a  relic,  should  not  a  shrine  big 
built,  which  would  draw  devotees  from  every  land 
and  make  more  illustrious  an  order  which  called 
itself  by  the  saint's  name  ? 

His  first  intention  was  to  build  a  commemorative 
church  down  on  the  plain,  perhaps  to  enclose  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  the 
infirmary  hut  where  Francis  died.  It  is  possible 
that  this  church  was  to  have  been  small  and  after 
the  pattern  preferred  by  the  saint,  but  contrary  to 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    209 

his  wishes  nevertheless,  since  it  was  his  express 
provision  that  the  friars  were  to  possess  no  churches, 
only  to  use  those  lent  to  them  or  for  which  they 
paid  a  rent.  Down  at  the  settlement,  however,  the 
companions  and  first  followers  of  Francis  resided 
and  watched  the  vicar-general's  movements  jea- 
lously, and  the  Assisans  were  unwilling  to  let  the 
body  be  sepulchred  outside  their  walls.  A  new 
scheme  presented  itself  to  his  ambition,  and  this 
he  proceeded  to  carry  out. 

Voluntary  offerings  were  made  daily  at  the  tomb 
in  San  Giorgio,  some  of  them  of  great  cost.  It  was 
obvious  that  an  appeal  to  the  Christian  world  would 
result  in  contributions  large  enough  for  the  erection 
of  a  church  that  would  draw  the  gaze  of  Christen- 
dom not  alone  to  the  saint,  but  to  the  order  of 
which  Elias  and  the  cardinal  were  determined  to 
allege  him  the  founder.  For  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  Francis  did  not  found  the  order  which 
for  nearly  seven  centuries  has  called  itself  Francis- 
can. 

A  low  hill  divided  from  Assisi  by  a  chasm  com- 
pleted the  western  flank  of  Monte  Subasio.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  used  as  a  gallows-hill,  and  was 
known  as  the  Collis  Inferni. 

So  it  was  attributed  to  Francis  that  in  his  humility 
he  had  expressed  a  wish  to  be  buried  there.  The 
ground  belonged  to  Messer  Simon  Puzzarelh,  with 
whom  Elias  entered  into  negotiations,  but  these 
were  not  at  first  made  public. 

In  the  meantime,   the  brothers  at  Santa  Maria 
14 


210  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

degli  Angeli  were  indignant  alike  because  of  what 
they  knew  and  of  what  they  surmised.  Brother 
Leo,  who  was  dihgently  engaged  all  winter  and 
spring  with  his  Mirror  of  Perfectioyi,  revealed  certain 
aspects  of  Brother  Elias  in  its  pages^  which  shed 
light  on  the  opposition  suffered  by  Francis  from 
both  the  man  and  the  minister.  This  book  was 
finished  on  11th  May,  1227,  and  was  zealously 
studied  before  and  during  the  Chapter-General  of 
30th  May.  Its  effect  was  considerable.  Elias 
was  deposed  and  Giovanni  Parenti  elected  vicar- 
general. 

Other  influences  had  conspired  towards  this 
crisis.  Elias  initiated  the  insane  policy  of  treating 
the  zelators,  as  they  were  called,  with  harshness, 
and  Leo,  the  friend  of  Francis,  was  the  first  to  be 
so   persecuted. 

By  the  end  of  May  his  plans  had  so  far  ripened 
that  he  placed  a  marble  vase  on  the  Collis  Infemi 
to  receive  money  offerings  for  the  church.  This  was 
probably  about  the  end  of  March,  or  early  in  April, 
just  after  the  death  of  Honorius  and  the  election 
to  the  Papacy  of  Cardinal  Ugolino  as  Gregory  IX. 
The  step  was  a  flagrant  defiance  of  the  saint's 
injunctions,  and  even  of  the  Rule  of  122.S,  and  it 
is  evident  that  Elias  was  acting  with  the  knowledge 
of  his  protector,  the  Pope.  It  created  a  scandal 
amongst  the  older  brethren,  which  affected  even 
those  who  were  in  agreement  with  the  new  order. 
Brother  Leo  sought  Egidio's  advice,  but  the  latter 
could  suggest  nothing,  for  interference  meant  per- 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    211 

sedition  even  unto  death.  But  Leo  was  stimulated 
to  redoubled  zeal  in  making  known  the  saint's  mind 
about  the  building  of  churches  and  houses,  which  he 
set  in  the  forefront  of  his  book  witli  anxious  repeti- 
tion. He  was  stimulated  also  to  an  act  of  violence. 
He  and  others  of  the  companions  went  to  the  Collis 
Inferni  and  knocked  down  the  marble  offertory, 
breaking  it  in  pieces,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of 
trouble  for  Leo. 

Elias  was  for  a  short  time  disconcerted  by  this 
unexpected  blow,  but,  aware  of  Giovanni  Parenti's 
feebleness,  he  went  on  with  his  work  as  if  no 
such  minister  existed.  He  corresponded  with 
Pope  Gregory,  used  his  influence  with  the  ma- 
jority of  the  order,  and  gradually  won  back  his 
dominance  over  the  rest.  Only  the  zelators  re- 
mained irreconcilable.  It  was  difficult  for  those 
friars,  who  had  known  Francis  less  intimately  than 
they,  to  resist  the  impression  which  Elias  made 
upon  them,  as  one  acting  in  concert  with  Gregory. 
So  he  pushed  on  his  preparations  for  the  building, 
towards  which  money  poured  in  from  all  parts  of 
Europe— crowned  heads,  nobles  and  ecclesiastics 
bringing  and  sending  their  gifts.  Simon  Puzza- 
relli  made  over  the  Collis  Inferni  with  eager 
generosity  to  Brother  Elias  for  the  Pope,  that 
an  ''oratory  or  church  for  the  most  hol}^  body 
of  St.  Francis "  might  be  built  upon  it,  although 
the  deed  of  gift  was  not  fully  made  out  until  after 
the  ceremony  of  canonisation  in   1228, 

At  first  Elias  may  have  purposed  to  build  a  small 


212  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

sanctuary  over  the  tomb,  Ijut  it  is  evident  that  the 
wealth  flowing  in  for  the  shrine  altered  his  plan, 
and  that  he  bei^an  to  design  the  beautiful  upreared 
basilica  and  the  convent  structures  which  now 
dominate  the  plain.  He  secured  the  assistance 
of  Brother  FiHpo  of  Campello,  an  architect.  He 
seems  to  have  been  conversant  with  Gothic  art, 
and  at  once  suggested  that  no  other  could  har- 
monise so  well  with  the  site,  precipitous  on  either 
side,  and  needing  just  such  arched  substructures  as 
were  built  in  the  eleventh  century  for  the  Bene- 
dictine convents  and  churches  at  Subiaco.  Pro- 
bably Brother  Filipo  knew  Santa  Scolastica  and 
the  Sacro  Speco  well,  as  it  is  pretty  certain  so 
did  Brother  Elias,  and  had  noted  their  fitness  to 
the  rocky  heights  on  which  they  were  reared  in 
such  wise  as  to  become  almost  on  integral  part  of 
the  mountain.  Here  in  105'2  the  French  abbot, 
Humbert,  had  rebuilt  Santa  Scolastica,  its  cathedral, 
bell  tower  and  cloister,  all  in  the  pointed  style  be- 
loved in  his  native  land  ;  while  in  1075  his  successor, 
Abbot  John,  although  an  Italian,  carried  out  the 
restoration  by  building  the  beautiful  Gothic  church 
of  the  Holy  Cave,  the  middle  church,  as  we  know 
it,  where  Pope  Gregory  was  completing  the  chapel 
of  San  Gregorio,  on  one  wall  of  which  Brother  Oddo 
painted  the  portrait  of  his  friend.  Brother  Francis. 
Franciscans  were  well  acquainted  with  St.  Bene- 
dict's Cave  and  its  shrines. 

Gothic    art,    too,    had    invaded    Italy    somewhat 
during    the    generation    prior    to    the  founding    of 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    213 

the  Assisaii  San  Francesco,  no  fewer  than  three 
Gothic  Cistercian  abbeys  having  been  built  be- 
tween 1187  and  1217.  It  is  most  likely  that 
Elias  and  his  assistant  planned  the  two  churches 
of  San  Francesco  with  full  knowledge  of  these, 
and,  as  means  were  ample,  that  the  former  decided 
to  surpass  in  grandeur  and  beauty  all  the  existing 
churches  in  this  style.  Autumn  and  winter  were 
spent  in  these  preliminaries.  On  29th  April,  1228, 
Pope  Gregory  published  a  Bull  announcing  that  it 
was  suitable  that  a  church  should  be  built  to  honour 
the  memory  of  the  Blessed  Francis  and  to  receive 
his  body.  He  invited  all  the  faithful  to  send  offer- 
ings to  this  end,  requiting  them  with  an  indulgence 
of  forty  days.  Elias  ordered  the  friars  to  be  carriers 
of  these  offerings  from  their  various  mission  fields, 
so  we  hear  of  contributions  from  even  Jerusalem 
and  Morocco. 

Francis  was  already  canonised  in  the  heart  of  the 
Italian  people,  and  the  Pope  decided  to  set  his 
formal  seal  and  benediction  upon  their  election. 
At  variance  with  Rome,  it  was  a  convenient  mo- 
ment for  him  to  come  to  Assisi,  and  he  reached 
the  world- famed  city  in  the  middle  of  July.  The 
great  solemnity  took  place  upon  the  l6th  of  that 
month  in  the  church  of  San  Giorgio. 

All  the  citizens  trooped  to  see  and  hear  his 
Holiness.  He  played  the  rule  in  masterly  fashion. 
Clad  in  cloth  of  gold  and  surrounded  by  cardinals, 
he  sat  for  their  edification  on  his  pontifical  chair 
until  the  moment  arrived  for  his  rising  to  deliver 


214  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISl 

a  eulogy  of  St.  Francis.  It  was  couched  in  re- 
splendent metaphors,  with  sobs  for  emphasis.  The 
function  ended  with  the  papal  benediction  for  Assisi. 

The  day  after  he  crossed  to  the  Collis  Inferni 
and  laid  the  foundation-stone.  Elias  with  his 
workers  had  toiled  to  bring  the  ground  into 
sufficient  order  for  this  ceremony,  and  he  derived 
the  fullest  personal  satisfaction  from  the  power 
with  which  it  invested  him.  Gregory  renamed 
the  spot  Collis  Paradisi. 

In  addition  to  these  functions  the  Pope,  instructed 
concerning  the  harm  done  by  Leo's  book,  which  he 
had  doubtless  read,  gave  orders  that  the  learned 
Tomaso  di  Celano  should  compile  the  authorised 
biography  of  St.  Francis.  Celano  had  been  in 
Germany  for  some  years,  engaged  in  mission 
work.  He  was,  therefore,  personally  unacquainted 
with  the  last  as  with  the  first  years  of  the  saint's 
apostolate,  and  could  only  know  what  happened 
through  those  who  had  been  present.  But,  as  a 
student,  he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  zelators, 
and  he  was  engaged  to  produce  a  life  which  should 
present  and  misrepresent  the  events  so  simply  told 
by  Brother  Leo  in  such  a  way  as  to  magnify  Elias, 
the  Curia  and  the  new  order.  Naturally,  Elias  was 
his  main  authority  for  both  matter  and  manner  of 
the  earlier  and  later  years.  He  was  urged  to  com- 
plete his  biography  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  by 
working  all  autumn  and  winter  he  did  so  by  the 
middle  of  February,  1229,  so  that  it  received 
Gregory's  sanction  on    the    'r^loth    of   that    month. 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    215 

It  appeared,  therefore,  nine  months  after  the 
Speculum  Perfectionis,  and  put  a  new  gloss  on  all 
that  had  happened. 

Elias  remained  in  effect  the  untitled  chief  of  the 
new  order,  and  he  pushed  on  the  building  with 
such  imperious  urgency  that  the  lower  church 
was  completed  in  two  years.  He  commanded  an 
army  of  workmen,  craftsmen,  artists.  His  archi- 
tect was  Brother  Filipo  of  Campello,  unless  we 
adopt  the  latest  view  that  he  planned  these  su- 
perb structures  himself,  and  that  Filipo' s  technical 
knowledge  alone  was  required.  Architecture  was 
well  understood  in  Assist,  which  in  the  fifteenth 
century  possessed  its  own  lodge  of  the  Comacine 
Guild,  and  where  the  beautiful  churches  of  San 
Rufino  and  San  Pietro  had  been  built  in  the 
eleventh  century. 

Men  crowded  from  the  plain  and  the  neighbouring 
towns,  eager  to  help  the  Assisans  in  an  enterprise 
which  promised  both  spiritual  and  temporal  reward, 
many  of  them  ready  to  toil  for  love  of  the  saint, 
whose  coming  and  going  amongst  them  were  scarcely 
become  memories,  so  fresh  and  sweet  were  they  to 
think  upon,  while  to  this  day  they  abide  fresh  in 
Umbria. 

Pope  Gregory,  informed  of  all,  declared  the  new 
church  to  be  head  and  mother  church  of  the  order, 
another  despite  done  to  Francis,  who  had  pledged 
himself  and  his  followers  to  hold  the  Benedictine 
Portiuncula  as  their  centre  and  mother.  Privileges, 
too,  were  showered  upon  the  basilica  ;  no  interdict 


216  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

might  interrupt  its  functions,  its  convent  was  made 
inviolable.  Little  wonder  that  the  testament  was 
suppressed  and  that  the  friars  were  exonerated  from 
obedience  to  its  injunctions. 

There  remained  the  consecration  of  the  edifice 
and  the  translation  of  the  saint's  body  to  his  tomb 
beneath  the  high  altar.  The  opening  day  of  the 
Pentecostal  Chapter-General,  which  Giovanni  Parenti 
was  to  hold  in  the  new  convent,  was  chosen  for 
these  ceremonies.  To  him  the  Pope  gave  the 
translation  in  charge.  He  wished  to  be  present 
himself  at  the  consecration,  but  was  prevented  by 
political  troubles. 

The  25th  of  May  dawned  amidst  the  rejoicings  of 
an  immense  crowd  of  friars  and  tertiaries  come  to 
Assisi  from  all  parts  of  Italy.  If  the  Chapter  were 
held  in  the  convent,  the  assembly  had  to  encamp 
in  the  open  air,  as  in  times  past. 

The  procession  was  formed  at  San  Giorgio,  before 
whose  door  stood  a  car  drawn  by  two  white  oxen 
draped  in  purple  cloth  and  garlanded  with  flowers. 
The  legates  sent  by  Gregory  assisted  Brother  Elias 
to  carry  the  sarcophagus  from  the  church  and  place 
it  upon  the  car.  It  was  covered  with  a  piece  of 
rich  brocade  sent  by  the  Queen  Mother  of  France. 
The  car  was  guarded  by  the  three  legates  and  Elias, 
while  behind  it  came  the  friars  two  by  two  carrying 
palms  and  lights,  and  followed  by  the  clergy  and 
magistrates  of  Assisi.  Down  the  long  street  they 
passed,  while  flowers  were  showered  from  the 
windows  upon  the  car,  and  then  slowly  up  to  the 


TESTAMENT,  DEATH,  CANONISATION    217 

Collis  Paradisi.  Just  as  they  were  singing  a  hymn 
in  praise  of  St.  Francis,  composed  by  Gregory  him- 
self, and  were  nearing  the  wonderful  new  church, 
an  extraordinary  incident  occurred,  expected,  indeed, 
by  Elias  and  the  magistrates,  but  wholly  unforeseen 
by  the  friars,  the  clergy  and  the  people.  It  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  the  legates  were  privy  to 
it  or  not,  but  we  may  assume  their  ignorance. 
Armed  men  suddenly  invaded  the  crowd,  seized 
the  sarcophagus  and  carried  it  into  the  church, 
closely  followed  by  Elias,  who  turned  to  shut  and 
fasten  the  door  with  heavy  bolts  and  bars. 

Once  inside,  he  buried  the  saint  deep  in  a 
sepulchre  prepared  down  in  the  mountain  itself 
and  lined  with  huge  blocks  of  travertine,  far  below 
the  high  altar,  and  so  marvellously  concealed  that 
nearly  six  centuries  passed  without  its  discovery, 
which  took  place  only  in   1818. 

The  baffled  crowd  was  indignant  ;  the  friars  were 
astounded ;  the  festival  so  long  anticipated  was 
wrecked.  Something  like  terror  brooded  over  the 
day,  which  was  to  have  crowned  Assisi's  annals. 
The  magistrates  slunk  home  knowing  very  well 
that  they  would  be  exonerated  from  blame,  and 
that  in  the  meantime  this  scandal  had  secured  for 
ever  the  great  relic  to  their  city. 

But  another  comedy  had  to  be  played  before  the 
matter  ended.  The  legates,  who  had  come  laden 
with  Gregory's  gifts  and  benedictions,  returned  to 
him  in  consternation,  followed  by  friars  with  loud 
complaints,  by  Giovanni   Parenti,  by  appeals  from 


218  FRANCIS  OF  ASSIST 

the  outraged  zelators.  It  was  essential  that  the 
grotesque  drama  should  be  acted  out  ;  so  Brother 
Elias,  the  conventual  friars,  the  church  itself  were 
laid  under  interdict.  The  magistrates  were  sum- 
moned before  the  Curia  to  explain  their  non- 
resistance  to  this  sacrilege.  Elias  was  scathingly 
censured,  and  perhaps  Gregory  rather  enjoyed 
scolding  his  masterful   tool. 

For  a  time  Brother  Elias  was  under  a  cloud. 
Giovanni  Parenti  was  again  elected  vicar-general 
in  spite  of  a  bold  coup  manque  from  his  rival.  When 
time  sufficient  had  elapsed.  Pope  Gregory  pub- 
lished the  Bull  Quo  Elongati,  by  which  Elias  was 
justified  in  all  his  actions,  and  the  farce  ended  with 
his  triumph  four  months  after  his  act  of  desecra- 
tion. 

He  used  it  to  resume  work  at  the  churches.  By 
1236  the  upper  church  was  roofed  ;  three  years 
later  the  bell-tower  was  full  of  bells.  Fresco 
painters  were  at  work,  and  only  Cimabue  and 
Giotto  were  awaited  to  make  the  walls  of  both 
upper  and  lower  sanctuaries  as  fair  within  as  they 
were  without,  the  glory  of  Catholic  Christendom  and 
its  paradox. 


PART  III 

ST.    FRANCIS   JN  ART 

The  Earliest  Biographical  Frescoes — The  First  Portraits — 
St.  Francis,  by  Cimabue— By  Lorenzetti— Giotto's  Fres- 
coes in  the  Upper  Church — Above  the  High  Altar  in 
the  Lower  Church — Santa  Croce  in  Florence — Fra 
Angelico — Benozzo  Gozzoli  at  Montefalco — Ghirlandajo 
— Benedetto  da  Majano  —  Donatello  —  Andrea  della 
Robbia — Garofalo — Agostino  Carracci. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter  should  be  treated 
in  a  volume  rather  than  merely  suggested 
in  a  few  pages,  but  no  life  of  the  saint  can  be 
considered  complete  without  at  least  a  glance  at 
some  of  those  representations  in  easel  painting,  in 
fresco  and  in  sculpture,  which,  from  1230  onwards, 
sought  to  perpetuate  his  memory.  In  dealing  with 
the  older  pictures  and  frescoes  we  must  not  let  slip 
the  historic  sense. 

When  Francis  died,  books  were  the  possession  of 
princes,  monasteries  and  cathedrals,  not  of  peoples, 
as  they  are  now.  The  uneducated  had  none,  and 
the  main  bulk  of  every  people  was  uneducated,  in 
our  modern  sense,  which  makes  book  knowledge  a 
fundamental  test  of  education,  one-sided,  inadequate 
and  misleading  although  it  be.  When  a  saint  died, 
(219) 


220  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

and  it  was  deemed  wise  to  prolong  his  memory  in 
such  a  form  as  might  appeal  to  milettered  men, 
women  and  children,  the  natural  process  was  to 
paint  a  memoir  on  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary  raised 
and  dedicated  to  him,  that  all  who  came  within 
them  might  read  and  learn  what  manner  of  man  he 
had  been.  The  frescoed  churches  are  biographies, 
and,  since  the  lives  of  saints  touched  those  of  the 
world's  rulers  as  well,  they  are  often  histories  too. 

Brother  Elias  set  fresco  painters  to  work  at  the 
lower  church  so  soon  as  its  walls  were  covered  in. 
There  are  remains  of  five  of  their  attempts  on  the 
left  wall  of  the  nave,  and  of  a  series  on  the  opposite 
wall,  whose  scenes  are  taken  from  the  Passion  of 
our  Lord,  but  only  four  of  them  can  now  be  iden- 
tified. I'he  Franciscan  incidents  on  the  left  wall 
are  somewhat  clearer,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the 
first  effort  to  memorialise  the  saint.  We  detect  his 
renunciation  of  the  world  ;  Pope  Innocent's  dream  ; 
the  sermon  to  the  birds  ;  the  stigmata — of  which 
only  the  seraphic  vision  is  now  visible — and  his 
death.  It  is  difficult  to  discover  in  the  conflict  of 
critical  surmises  any  sure  clue  to  the  artist  of  these 
frescoes.  Perhaps  they  were  painted  by  the  Pisan 
Giunta,  perhaps  by  some  artist  amongst  the  Brothers 
Minor.  Whoever  executed  them  was  still  domi- 
nated by  Byzantine  conventionalism,  although  they 
contain  a  hint  of  struggle  from  its  bondage,  un- 
couth and  pathetic,  which  invests  them  with 
interest. 

With  Giunta  we  come  to  the  earliest  portraits  of 


i?3ti..     ''HAiK  ■ 

*■■■■  ;^'B^ 

-rS 

h 

;4.    ■  ■ 

m-'-'i 

EARLY    HORTKAIT    OK    FRANCIS 
A^ow  ill  the  Sacristy  of  the  Upper  Church  at  Assis 


ST.   FRANCIS  IN  ART  221 

Francis.  That  by  Brother  Oddo  at  the  Sagro  Speco, 
near  Subiaco,  we  have  already  described,  but  there 
are  three  said  to  belong  to  1230,  or  a  few  years 
later,  attributed  to  this  artist.  One  of  these  hangs 
outside  the  chapel  built  round  the  infirmary  hut  at 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli ;  a  second  is  in  the  Fran- 
ciscan Convent  al  Monte  close  to  Perugia,  where 
Brother  Egidio  spent  many  years  ;  and  the  third  is 
preserved  in  the  inner  sacristy  of  San  Francesco  di 
Assisi. 

The  first  and  second  may  be  by  Giunta  Pisano, 
because  characteristics  which  distinguish  his  other 
works  are  observable  in  them,  especially  the  Byzan- 
tine treatment  of  eyes  and  attitude  ;  but  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  pronounce  judgment  as  to  the  painter  of  the 
third.  It  has  greater  delicacy  and  sweetness  than 
the  others,  and  is  referred  by  Father  Giuseppe 
Fratini  to  a  Sienese  artist,  one  of  a  group  who  suc- 
ceeded the  Pisan  workers,  and  who,  while  excelling 
these  in  freedom  and  grace,  had  not  attained  the 
independence  of  Cimabue  and  his  successors.  If 
this  hypothesis  have  value,  it  belongs  to  a  date  later 
than  that  usually  attributed  to  it,  probably  to  the 
time  of  some  artist  from  Siena,  who  was  the  fore- 
runner of  Simone  Martini  and  Pietro  Lorenzetti. 

The  tradition  repeated  to  visitors  is  that  this 
portrait  is  painted  on  half  of  a  slab  of  wood  upon 
which  St.  Francis  was  laid  after  death  that  his  body 
might  be  washed  before  it  was  robed  for  burial. 
On  the  one  half,  we  are  told,  his  figure,  with  four 
scenes  representing  miracles   through   his  agency, 


222  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

was  painted  ;  on  the  other  half  the  unpleasing  por- 
trait of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli.  But  these  two 
are  manifestly  by  different  hands.  Father  Fratini 
has  a  theory  which  seems  better  than  the  scanty 
tradition.  It  is  possible  that  Giunta  painted  on 
two  wooden  panels  the  rough  portraits  of  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli  and  of  San  Francesco  al  Monte, 
perhaps  also  that  in  San  Bernardino's  chapel ;  but 
an  artist  friar,  or  one  of  the  Sienese  school,  painted 
for  the  sepulchral  altar  of  the  lower  church  two 
pictures  on  wood,  St.  Francis  in  the  middle  of  each, 
two  scenes  of  miracles  on  either  side  of  him,  the 
panels  being  placed  back  to  back,  and  so  framed  that 
the  faithful  kneeling  at  either  back  or  front  of  the 
altar  might  see  the  form  of  the  great  patriarch.  In 
the  Vatican  Gallery  may  be  found  a  picture  of  St. 
Francis  painted  on  a  panel  of  the  same  size,  in  the 
same  manner,  and  flanked,  too,  by  scenes  of  miracles. 
Fratini  s  speculation  that  this  may  once  have  been 
the  counterpart  of  the  portrait  in  the  sacristy  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  its  four  miracles  are 
different  from  those  represented  in  the  other. 

We  hear  of  another  piece  of  wood  besides  that 
on  which  his  body  was  laid,  one  which  covered  his 
rough  sarcophagus  in  San  Giorgio.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  one  slab  served  both  purposes,  and 
the  loose  construction  of  even  cherished  traditions, 
as  well  as  of  the  most  plausible  criticism,  leaves  us 
only  sure  that  the  portrait  in  the  sacristy  belongs 
to  the  thirteenth  century  and  to  its  second  or  third 
quarter.      It   is   a  noteworthy  portrait   in   spite   of 


ST.  FRANCIS  IN  ART  223 

this  uncertainty.  Whoever  painted  it  understood 
the  angelic  strain  which  etherialised  the  saint's 
humanity,  imparting  to  it  a  quality  so  celestial 
that  generations  may  be  pardoned  for  accounting 
him  divine.  We  may  almost  believe  that  one  who 
knew  and  loved  him  limned  those  delicate  fea- 
tures, quickened  them  with  sorrow  and  with  joy. 

Another  point  is  of  secondary  interest.  His 
robe  is  coloured  grey,  rather  deep  and  blackish, 
but  still  indubitably  grey,  and  in  this  resembles 
the  fresco  of  Subiaco,  which  is  free,  however,  from 
the  darkening  effect  of  altar  smoke  and  incense. 
Just  such  a  tinge  might  be  expected  on  a  picture 
which  once  stood  on  the  high  altar  of  a  church.  In 
one  hand  Francis  holds  a  cross,  an  attribute  to  which 
he  is  entitled  as  Patriarch  of  the  Franciscan  Order  ; 
in  the  other  a  gospel,  on  whose  open  pages  can  be 
read  that  principle  of  the  saintly  life,  which  to  him 
contained  its  very  essence  :  Si  vis  perfectus  esse,  vade, 
vende  omnia  que  habes  et  da  pauperihits.  The  stigmata 
on  hands  and  feet  and  the  halo  are  clearly  marked. 

Another  portrait  belonging  to  the  thirteenth 
century  is  in  the  church  of  the  San  Sargiano, 
near  Arezzo,  and  is  attributed  to  Margaritone  of 
Arezzo,  who  was  born  ten  years  after  the  saint 
died,  and  who,  therefore,  followed  the  earlier 
portraits,  and  more  particularly  that  of  the  Holy 
Cave,  painting  him  with  his  pointed  hood  drawn 
over  his  head.  In  all  of  these  the  robe  is  grey, 
this  colour  having  been  used  during  nearly  two 
centuries  for  the  Franciscan  habit. 


224  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

By  1252  both  upper  and  lower  churches  were 
completed,  and  next  year  Pope  Innocent  IV.  con- 
secrated them  with  great  splendour  of  function. 
He  came  accompanied  by  a  court  of  cardinals  and 
princes  to  Assisi  in  April,  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  the  convent  buildings  for  six  months. 
The  solemnity  was  consummated  on  the  fifth  Sun- 
day after  Easter,  and  both  sanctuaries  received  the 
papal  benediction. 

In  that  year  Cimabue  was  thirteen  years  old. 

This  long  residence,  and  the  privileges  showered 
upon  convent  and  basilica,  revived  the  interest  of 
Christendom,  and  contributions  for  fuller  decora- 
tion increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the  friars 
could  dream  of  perfecting  their  church.  But  art 
for  the  moment  was  in  the  trough  of  the  wave. 
Wearied  of  Byzantine  tyranny,  artists  turned  to- 
wards the  wind,  which  blew  from  the  north,  for 
a  deep  inspiration.  Already  it  had  invigorated 
Italian  architecture  ;  it  had  ruffled  the  stagnant 
art  of  Pisa  ;  it  had  awakened  the  dreamers  of 
Siena ;  it  stirred  amongst  the  dry  bones  in  Flor- 
ence. The  friars  had  to  wait  awhile,  and  in  the 
meantime  their  wealth  accumulated.  Even  Assisi, 
impoverished  as  it  was  by  internal  and  external 
commotions,  made  civic  and  individual  sacrifices 
for  the  church  of  its  patron. 

Renaissant  art  reached  Assisi  with  Cimabue. 
There  is  a  disposition  amongst  our  newest  critics 
to  look  upon  this  man  as  apocryphal,  to  sink 
him  in  later  fame ;  but  we  may  ignore  them  and 


ST.  FRANCIS  IN  ART  225 

continue  firm  in  the  faith  which  was  Vasari's, 
Tuscany's,  Italy's. 

He  came  to  work  in  the  upper  church,  where 
his  great  scriptural  frescoes,  his  noble  angels,  pro- 
phets, fathers  of  the  church,  have  been  cruelly 
maltreated  by  time,  and  are  suffering  gradual 
effacement  from  the  damp,  to  which  the  mala- 
droit interference  of  a  government  commission  has 
recklessly  surrendered  them.  But  with  these  we 
have  nothing  to  do.  It  is  his  sublime  Madonna  in 
the  lower  church — almost  intact,  except  for  the 
encroachment  on  its  left  of  a  door  leading  into 
St.  Mary  Magdalen's  Chapel  —  that  includes  a 
figure  of  St.  Francis,  standing  beyond  the  Queen 
of  Heaven  and  her  angel  courtiers,  looking  some- 
what dwarfed  beside  her  majesty,  his  face  shorter 
and  rounder  than  in  the  first  portraits,  his  lips 
thick  and  ungainly,  his  eyes  peaceful,  almost 
smiling,  as  if  he  were  amused  to  find  himself  in 
such  great  company,  which,  sooth  to  say,  ignores 
his  presence  absolutely.  It  is  less  attractive  than 
other  portraits,  and  Cimabue  seems  to  have  made 
it  a  point  to  differentiate  the  poverello  in  kind  as 
well  as  in  degree. 

Pleasanter  is  Lorenzetti's  St.  Francis  in  the  tran- 
sept to  our  left,  as  we  face  the  high  altar,  but  it 
belongs  to  a  date  more  than  half  a  century  later. 
It  is  like  Cimabue's  in  one  respect  only.  The  face 
is  rounder  and  shorter  than  in  the  earlier  pictures. 
But  its  features  are  refined,  and  the  Madonna 
points  him  out  to  her  babe  with  a  gesture  of 
15 


226  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

tunied-back  thumb  peculiarly  Italian,  while  Jesu- 
lino,  although  mucli  surprised  at  his  appearance, 
bestows  upon  him  the  benediction  requested.  On 
the  other  side  stands  St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
truly  companion  to  St.  Francis  in  spirit,  although 
not  his  name-saint  as  was  the  other  John,  herald 
of  our  Lord.  This  picture  is  very  lovely,  with 
delicate  treatment  and  golden  background,  and  its 
date  is  that  of  the  second  group  of  Sienese  artists, 
who  filled  up  the  spaces  left  by  Giotto  and  his 
disciples. 

Fifty  years  earlier  than  Lorenzetti,  Giotto  arrived, 
a  lad  of  twenty,  fresh  from  Cimabue's  workshop. 
Apparently  the  lower  church,  beneath  which  St. 
Francis  was  sepulchred,  was  more  precious  to  the 
friars  than  the  upper,  whose  roofs,  transepts  and 
apse  were  now  jewelled  with  Cimabue's  creations, 
for  not  until  he  had  filled  its  nave  with  the  story 
of  Francis  was  he  permitted  to  work  below.  His 
frescoes  triumphantly  testified  his  power,  and  he 
was  invited  to  obliterate  all  that  was  inadequate  in 
the  lower  church  and  to  fill  the  spaces  above  the 
high  altar,  the  walls,  roof,  arch  and  shallow  chapel 
of  San  Nicholas  with  those  inspirations  of  his 
genius,  which  make  this  church  one  of  the  marvels 
of  Christendom. 

Giotto  was  invited  to  come  by  the  Franciscan 
General,  Brother  Giovanni  da  Muro,  whose  term  of 
office  lasted  from  1296  to  1304,  when  he  was  made 
a  cardinal.  These  dates  approximately  fix  the  time 
of  his  work  in  Assisi,  where  he  not  only  compassed 


ST.  FRANCIS  IN  ART  227 

the  frescoes  in  San  Francesco,  but  found  time  to 
design  and  superintend  those  of  the  right  transept 
in  Santa  Chiara,  the  church  raised  and  dedicated  to 
St.  Clare  after  her  death. 

Cimabue  and  his  pupils  had  not  filled  the  walls 
of  the  nave  in  the  upper  church.  It  is  probable 
that  other  commissions  prevented  his  carrying  out 
this  part  of  the  scheme  of  decoration,  and  that  he 
commended  his  pupil  Giotto  as  one  able  to  fill  these 
with  scenes  from  the  saint's  life  as  was  desired. 
Already  there  must  have  been  an  authoritative 
sequence  of  incidents  drawn  up  from  San  Bonaven- 
tura's  biography  and  from  the  Speculum  Pcrfectionis, 
now  no  longer  in  discredit  as  before  the  excom- 
munication of  Brother  Elias.  These  were  founded 
on  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  and  were  not  yet  old 
enough  to  have  become  tradition,  although  some  of 
them  were  already  slipping  into  its  golden  haze. 
San  Bonaventura's  Life  was  as  much  inspired  by 
tenderness  and  insight  as  Leo's.  It  was  in  greater 
repute  at  this  time  than  Celano's,  which  had  been 
recast  and  considerably  altered.  Apparently  it  was 
the  main  source  for  this  sequence  by  Giotto,  who, 
with  his  colleagues,  filled  eight  and  twenty  spaces 
with  these  accredited  scenes.  They  begin  at  the 
end  of  the  nave  nearest  the  altar  with  the  predic- 
tion of  greatness  accorded  to  Francis  in  his  worldly 
youth,  and  continue  through  his  conversion,  voca- 
tion, renunciation,  reception  by  Innocent  III.,  mini- 
strations, missions,  visions,  miracles,  stigmata,  to 
his  death  and  canonisation.       That  every  scene  was 


228  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

planned  and  drawn  by  one  master  brain  and  hand 
is  evident  except  to  decadent  modern  critics,  whose 
genius  is  that  of  Mephistopheles,  a  spirit  of  steady- 
denial.  The  composition  far  outsteps  the  conven- 
tional grouping,  from  which  even  Cimabue  could 
not  deliver  his  art.  With  Giotto,  we  are  on  the 
way  to  Raphael,  but  our  point  of  departure  detains 
us  with  a  wealth  of  suggestion,  subtlety,  humour, 
delicacy,  sincerity,  absent  from  our  goal.  Never 
were  pictures  more  imbued  than  these  with  one 
mind,  and  that  a  very  mirror  of  what  it  contem- 
plated, magically  reflecting  in  added  grace,  vivacity 
and  charm  what  Bonaventura  in  words,  and  the 
piazzas,  palaces,  sanctuaries  of  Assisi,  in  the  con- 
crete, presented  as  material  for  translation  into 
etherial   form  and  colour. 

Giotto  adopts  in  these  beautiful  pictures  the 
curved,  oval  face,  which  has  been  preferred  by 
many  artists  in  depicting  Francis.  We  do  not 
know  whether  he  was  cognisant  of  a  cast  reputed 
to  have  been  taken  from  the  saint's  features  after 
death,  in  whose  authenticity  it  is  difficult  to  be- 
lieve. Used  as  the  guide  of  sculptors  and  painters 
in  renaissance  times,  this  cast  indicates  a  short  face, 
delicately  moulded,  with  great  breadth  of  brow. 
Giotto  does  not  make  breadth  of  brow  a  special 
feature,  but  aims  at  a  fine  oval,  thin  even  in  his 
presentments  of  the  young  son  of  Bernardone, 
although  never  emaciated  to  the  degree  suggested 
by  the  early  portraits. 

When    Giovanni    da    Muro    was    satisfied    that 


ST.  FRANCIS  IN  ART  229 

Giotto's  frescoes  in  the  upper  church  were  worthy 
of  their  subject,  he  invited  him  to  complete  the 
wall  and  roof  decoration  of  the  lower  church,  and 
it  is  here  that  we  find  his  masterpieces.  Again,  his 
composition  and  colouring  are  dominant  in  the  fres- 
coes of  right  and  left  transepts,  on  roof  and  wall, 
although  Taddeo  Gaddi  and  Puccio  Capanna  may 
have  carried  out  their  execution.  The  first  series 
presents  scenes  in  the  life  of  the  Madonna  and  the 
infancy  of  our  Lord,  and  Giotto's  conceptions  fill 
the  whole  space  except  that  occupied  by  Cimabue's 
Madonna  and  by  the  Crucifixion  next  to  it,  said  to 
have  been  painted  by  Brother  Martino  under  Giotto's 
guidance.  Simone  Martini's  exquisite  figures  of 
Franciscan  saints  are  below  the  frescoes.  In  the 
Crucifixion  we  find  St.  Francis  kneeling  to  the  left 
of  the  Cross.  One  of  Simone  Martini's  saints  is 
meant  for  him,  but  it  is  the  least  attractive  of  the 
five. 

The  left  transept  is  covered  with  scenes  from  the 
Passion  of  our  Lord,  and  its  decoration  culminates 
in  another  Crucifixion  of  fine  workmanship,  which 
Fratini  maintains  to  have  been  painted  by  Cavallini, 
commissioned  by  Walter,  Duke  of  Athens,  and  for 
a  time  Tyrant  of  Florence,  who  tried  to  gain  the 
favour  of  the  Minorites. 

But  we  must  go  to  the  great  triangular  frescoes 
over  the  high  altar  to  find  Francis  once  more.  Here 
Giotto  allowed  his  imagination  full  play,  and  him- 
self carried  out  its  wonderful  suggestions.  The 
saint's  life  had  been  storied,  its  analogy  to  that  of 


230  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

his  Lord  and  Master  fully  illustrated,  but  there 
remained  his  work  to  chronicle  in  a  manner  which 
would  present  both  his  ideal  and  his  rigorous  prac- 
tice. For  these  allegories  are  realistic  enough,  and 
to  the  genuine  Franciscan  are  the  only  realities. 

First,  it  was  desired  to  have  the  apotheosis  of 
their  patriarch  facing  the  nave,  so  that  all  who 
came  towards  the  altar  might  see  him  throned 
gloriously  in  glory.  The  central  figure,  dressed  in 
white  dalmatic  and  mantle  of  dark  brocade,  is  on  a 
throne,  surrounded  by  rejoicing  angels  so  full  of 
life,  colour  and  almost  sound,  that  we  are  conscious 
of  their  longing  to  make  up  to  him  for  his  afflictions 
here,  with  "an  exceeding  weight  of  glory"  yonder. 
When  the  high  altar  is  lighted  up,  and  we  approach 
it  by  the  nave,  this  fresco  glows  with  beauty.  Op- 
posite to  it  is  the  mystical  marriage  of  Francis  to 
the  Lady  Poverty  of  his  dreams  in  those  years  of 
God's  guidance  in  the  wilderness.  Christ  Himself 
unites  the  half-shrinking  bridegroom  to  Poverty, 
whose  worn  garments  and  faded  beauty  present  no 
lure  to  win  the  man,  while  they  but  thinly  veil  the 
soul  which  Jesus  loved  on  earth.  For,  vowed  to 
Poverty,  what  shall  separate  him  from  the  love  of 
Christ  ?  And  even  while  he  gazes  half- unwilling 
on  his  bride,  she  reveals  to  him  the  blossoms 
of  a  heavenly  joy  and  purity,  which  their  union 
ensures  to  him  for  ever,  and  which  far  outweigh 
the  scorn  of  dogs,  the  contumely  of  men  blind  to 
her  immortal  beauty.  Beneath  he  reappears  in 
Giotto's  scheme  of  thought,  as  parting  gladly  with 


ST.   FRANCIS  IN  ART  231 

his  mantle  to  the  poor  knight,  his  angel  leading 
him,  while  on  the  other  side  raiser  and  worldlings 
turn  from  their  heavenly  guide  for  ever.  For  the 
pictures  mean,  as  Francis  meant,  that  man  has 
choice  of  the  life  that  now  is,  or  the  life  that  is  to 
come,  but  that  no  man  can  have  both  unless  he 
has  overcome  in  the  life  that  now  is  those  desires 
of  the  eye  and  that  pride  of  life  in  which  Christ 
had  neither  part  nor  lot.  Such  renunciation  here 
means  glory  there,  and  the  one  picture  is  the  com- 
plement of  the  other. 

The  side  pictures  illustrate  the  vows  of  chastity 
and  obedience  incumbent  on  all  who  enter  the 
orders  of  penitence.  There  is  no  attempt  to  mini- 
mise the  difficulty  of  keeping  these  vows.  Chastity 
dwells  on  high  ;  to  attain  to  her  heavenly  precincts 
needs  constant  warfare  against  sin.  The  pilgrims 
must  be  armed  with  fortitude,  must  climb  under 
the  banner  of  purity.  And  it  needs  such  suffering 
as  Christ's  crucifixion  to  resist  the  alluring  call  from 
every  side.  Warriors  on  earth,  the  faithful  who 
attain  become  glorified  spirits  when  they  reach  the 
courts  of  heaven  where  she  dwells.  On  the  left, 
at  the  base  of  this  fresco,  St.  Francis  urges  repre- 
sentatives of  his  orders  to  the  upward  course,  the 
three  figures  being  meant  for  Giovanni  da  Muro, 
one  of  the  Sisters  of  Poverty — perhaps  St.  Clare — 
and  a  cordelier  of  the  Third  Order,  for  whom  Dante 
himself  was  Giotto's  model. 

The  fresco  illustrating  obedience  faces  this,  and 
symbolises  with  a  yoke  imposed  upon  a  kneeling 


i>,S2  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

friar — with  an  unbridled  centaur,  who  recoils  from 
the  revelation  made  to  him  by  his  reflection  in  the 
mirror  of  prudence,  the  need  of  restraint,  the  horror 
of  license,  the  beauty  of  voluntary  submission,  of 
the  will  hallowed  by  obedience.  And  that  this 
obedience  is  unto  God  is  shown  by  the  figure  of 
St.  Francis  yoked  and  directed  by  the  two  hands 
of  Christ. 

The  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  was  begun  in 
Florence  in  1294,  Arnolfo  being  its  architect. 
Giotto  did  not  start  his  work  upon  its  walls  until 
long  after  Arnolfo's  death,  which  happened  in  1310. 
His  fame  had  greatly  increased,  and  he  was  soon  to 
be  asked  to  build  his  wonderful  campanile  beside 
the  Duomo,  whose  foundation-stone  was  laid  in 
1298,  while  he  was  busy  at  Assisi.  After  his  work 
there,  he  had,  according  to  the  high  method  of  the 
greatest  artists  in  Italy,  studied  architecture,  sculp- 
ture, relief  and  mosaic,  and  could  with  his  own 
hand  achieve  masterpieces  in  each  kind  of  art. 

It  was  about  1320  that  the  Capella  dei  Bardi 
della  Liberta  was  put  into  his  hands  for  decora- 
tion, when  he  was  well  over  forty  years  of  age. 
The  Franciscans  of  Florence  were  anxious  to  se- 
cure for  its  walls  some  incidents  in  their  patriarch's 
life,  like  those  renowned  over  all  Christendom,  in 
San  Francesco  di  Assisi.  They  had  already  placed 
over  the  high  altar  a  portrait  of  Francis,  said  to 
have  been  painted  by  Cimabue,  which  they  tried 
to  consider  an  authentic  likeness.  On  the  vault- 
ing of  the  Bardi   Chapel  is  another  portrait,  and 


ST.   FRANCIS  IN  ART  233 

Poverty,  Chastity  and  Obedience  are  personified 
on  its  remaining  quarters. 

Here,  too,  the  four  great  saints  of  the  order 
other  than  Francis,  one  of  them  only  just  cano- 
nised, were  painted  on  each  side  of  the  window 
by  Giotto  himself,  and  St.  Louis,  King  of  France, 
beloved  of  the  friars,  remains  there  beautiful  to- 
day. But  the  artist's  especial  work  was  to  fill  the 
spaces  made  by  the  Gothic  arching  with  incidents 
in  the  patriarch's  life.  He  was  hampered  by  want  of 
room,  by  difficulties  of  form,  but  he  left  six  frescoes, 
variants  of  six  in  the  upper  church  at  Assisi,  remind- 
ing us  of  these  and  yet  different.  Francis  visiting 
the  Sultan  of  Egypt  and  recommending  to  him  the 
gospel  of  Christ  is  perhaps  the  finest  of  these,  but 
his  renunciation  rivals  it  in  force  and  interest. 
Giotto  is  faithful  to  his  first  conception  of  the  saint. 

A  whole  century  passed  ere  St.  Francis  became 
again  a  leading  inspiration  in  art.  It  was  natural 
that  he  should  appeal  to  the  Dominican  artist,  Fra 
Angelico,  who  has  placed  him  facing  St.  Dominic 
in  the  foreground  of  his  Coronation  of  Mary.  They 
kneel  on  a  lower  plane  than  that  where  the  Ma- 
donna and  our  Lord  are  seated,  and  behind  them 
martyrs,  apostles  and  doctors  of  the  Church  gaze 
in  rapture  at  the  pearly  heavens  above  them, 
where  Christ  crowns  His  Blessed  Mother. 

But  it  was  Fra  Angelico's  pupil,  Benozzo  Gozzoli, 
who  made  Francis  the  subject  of  a  series  of  pictures 
designed,  like  the  frescoes  of  Giotto,  to  record  the 
incidents  of  his  life. 


234  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

A  Franciscan  church  had  been  built  at  Monte- 
falco,  a  ^' city  set  upon  a  liill/'  which  glows  in  the 
sunset  light,  disappearing  from  view  at  noon  if  our 
eyes  seek  it  towards  the  south-east  from  Assisi. 
The  friars  may  have  communicated  with  Fra 
Angelico,  who  was  at  Orvieto  in  14<52.  He  sent 
Benozzo  Gozzoli  to  do  the  work.  Gozzoli  had 
been  painting  for  five  years,  but  was  still  under 
the  influence  of  his  master,  not  yet,  as  seven  years 
later,  feeling  his  own  temperament  and  giving 
scope  to  its  artistic  impulses. 

So  the  frescoes  at  Montefalco  are  of  simple  de- 
sign, even  clumsy  when  compared  with  Giotto's, 
which  were  so  much  earlier. 

He  could  not  compass  Fra  Angelico's  stately 
lines,  his  purity  of  conception  sufficing  without 
detail.  So,  although  he  gives  a  pleasant  anima- 
tion to  the  scenes  and  delightful  colouring,  they 
lack  both  the  tenderness  of  Giotto's  frescoes  and 
the  wealth  of  homely  and  natural  detail  which 
distinguishes  his  own  later  masterpieces  at  the  Ric- 
cardi  Palace  and  in  the  Pisan  Campo  Santo.  His 
pictures  at  Montefalco  are  seventeen  in  the  bio- 
graphical series,  and  figures  of  the  first  companions 
round  the  arch  of  the  choir.  They  follow  Giotto's 
sequence,  but  include  a  blessing  of  Montefalco  by 
the  saint,  which  may  very  well  have  happened  in 
his  life-time.  In  the  fresco  of  Francis  preaching 
to  the  birds  near  Bevagna,  he  put  a  background 
of  Monte  Subasio  and  Assisi. 

In  the  portraits  round  the  choir  arch  he  makes 


ST.   FRANCIS  IN  ART  235 

the  number  of  first  companions  twelve,  for  by  his 
time  the  analogy  between  Christ's  life  on  earth 
and  that  of  the  patriarch  was  a  Franciscan 
dogma. 

Nine  years  later  Benozzo  Gozzoli  painted  a  small 
easel  picture  for  the  Compagnia  di  San  Marco  in 
Florence,  which  is  now  in  our  National  Gallery. 
Its  Madonna  is  a  copy  of  that  painted  by  Fra 
Angelico  for  the  high  altar-piece  of  San  Marco, 
now  to  be  seen  in  the  Academy  of  Florence.  But 
he  gave  rein  to  his  delight  in  natural  details,  and 
painted  St.  Francis  kneeling  amongst  sweet  flowers 
such  as  Francis  loved. 

Later  in  the  century,  about  14-85,  Ghirlandajo 
painted  a  beautiful  set  of  pictures  in  the  Sassetti 
Chapel  of  the  Church  of  the  Trinity  in  Florence, 
having  the  life  of  Francis  for  their  subject,  of  which 
the  death  scene  is  considered  to  be  finest,  although 
his  presentation  of  the  Rule  of  1223  to  Pope  Hon- 
orius  is  quite  as  impressive,  and  Mrs.  Jameson 
selects  Francis  before  the  Soldan  for  special 
notice. 

About  the  same  time  Benedetto  da  Majano 
executed  the  reliefs  round  the  pulpit  of  Santa 
Croce. 

A  chapel  was  built  by  San  Bonaventura  over  the 
infirmary  hut  where  Francis  died,  and  its  walls 
were  decorated  early  in  the  sixteenth  century  with 
figures  of  the  first  friars  by  Lo  Spagna.  About  the 
same  date  the  altar  was  furnished  with  a  beautiful 
terra-cotta  figure  of  Francis  by  Andrea  della  Robbia, 


236  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

which  is,  perhaps,  the  only  really  artistic  present- 
ment of  the  saint  at  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli.  It 
has  been  photographed  by  Signor  Lunghi,  and  Miss 
Duff  Gordon  uses  it  as  a  frontispiece  to  her  charm- 
ing Storif  ofAsslsL 

Far  nobler,  however,  is  the  splendid  statue  of  St. 
Francis  belonging  to  the  fifteenth  century  which  is 
on  the  high  altar  of  Sant'  Antonio  in  Padua.  Dona- 
tello  was  its  sculptor,  and  placed  it  on  the  right  of 
our  Lord  and  St.  Antonio  of  Padua  on  His  left,  a 
group  so  magnificent  that  its  impression  on  the 
mind  can  never  be  erased. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  Lo 
Spagna,  a  pupil  of  Perugino's,  Garofalo,  Agostino 
Carracci  and  Cigoli  were  the  chief  painters  of 
Franciscan  subjects,  and  of  these  Garofalo  and 
Carracci  were  the  best.  The  former  decorated  San 
Francesco  at  Ferrara  with  a  series  about  1520.  A 
Madonna  enthroned  by  Garofalo,  which  once  deco- 
rated the  high  altar  of  San  Guglielmo  in  Ferrara, 
is  now  in  our  National  Gallery,  and  the  saints  in 
attendance  on  Mary  are  Francis,  Antony  of  Padua, 
Clare  and  St.  William,  who  was  a  Brother  of  Peni- 
tence. 

Agostino  Carracci  painted  the  finest  example 
known  of  the  Stigmata,  a  subject  popular  with 
painters  of  the  sixteenth  and  later  centuries,  and 
especially  with  Cigoli  and  the  great  Spanish  master 
Zurburan.  Carracci's  picture  is  at  Vienna,  but  is 
well  known  from  engravings.  Zurburan's  examples 
are  full  of  the  gloomy  rendering  of  suffering  observ- 


STATUE   OF    FRANCIS   BY   DONATELLO 
In  the  Church  of  S.  Antonio,  Padua 


ST.  FRANCIS  IN  ART  237 

able  in  Spanish  pictures.  Many  others  might  be 
noted,  for  St.  Francis  is  patron  of  many  cities  and 
localities  besides  Umbria  and  Assisi  in  Umbria. 
Cloth-weavers  and  menders,  carpet-makers  and 
other  cognate  crafts  adopted  him  as  their  protector. 
But  this  brief  chapter  may  do  no  more  than  suggest 
the  subject.  The  Franciscan  art  of  recent  centuries 
lacks  the  ardent  faith  which  gave  value  to  the 
earlier  pictures. 

Perhaps,  seeing  that  our  age  has  a  new  revelation 
of  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis,  we  may  hope  for  a  new 
conception  and  a  new  artistic  presentment  of  his 
ideal,  his  failure,  his  coming  victory. 


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Die  Waldenser,  Prof.  Miiller. 
Franz  von  Assisi  und  Seine  culUir-historische  Bedeutung,  J. 

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Description  of  the  Holy  Mount  of  Alverna,  T.  Canevese. 
Floretum  S.  Francisci  Assisiensis,  ed.  P.  Sabatier. 
Francesco  d'  Assisi  e  il  Sua  Secolo,  F.  Prudenzano. 
Francis  and  Dominic  and  the  Mendicant  Orders,  J.  Herkless. 
(239) 


240  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

Histoire  de  St.  Fran(;ois  d' Assise,  Le  Monnier. 

Lady    Poverty,    The,   translated   from    the    Latin   of  P.  Ed. 

D'Alen9on  by  M.  Carmichael. 
Legenda  S.  Francisci,  St.  Bonaventure. 
Legenda  Triutn  Sociornm,  ed.  Faloci-Palignani. 
Legend  of  St.  Francis,  by  the  Three  Companions,  translated 

by  E.  Gurney  Salter. 
Legende   de  St.  Frangois,  dite  des  Trois  Compagnons,  De 

Vauthenticite  de  la,  P.  Sabatier. 
Les  Poetes  Franciscains,  Ozanam. 
L'  Eresia  nel  Medio  Eva,  Tocco. 
Mirror  of  Perfection,  translated  by  Sebastian  Evans. 
Momimenta  Franciscana,  ed.  Brewer  (Rolls  Series). 
Notes  concerning  the  death,  burial,  canonisation  and  transla- 
tion of  St.   Francis  of  Assisi  and  the  recovery  of  his 
body — collected  by  a  member  of  the  Conventual  Brothers 
Minor,  N.  Papini. 
Regies  {Les)  et  le  Gouverncment  de  VOrdo  De  Penitentid  au 

XII I""^  Siecle,  Rev.  P.  Mandonnet. 
Regula  Antiqua  Fratrum  et  Sororum  de  Penitentid,  ed.  P. 

Sabatier. 
San  Francesco  di  Assisi,  Giulio  Salvador!. 
Sons  of  Francis,  A.  Macdonell. 

Speculum  Perfectionis,  by  Brother  Leo,  ed.  P.  Sabatier. 
St.  Francis  and  You,  Father  Cuthbert. 
Storia  di  San  Francesco,  N.  Papini. 

Un  Nouveau  Chapitre  de  la  Vie  de  St.  Frangois,  P.  Sabatier. 
Vie  de  St.  Frangois,  P.  Sabatier. 
Vie  de  Ft  ere  Elie,  Prof.  Lempp. 
Vita  Prima  S.  Francisci,  Tomaso  di  Celano. 
Vita  Secunda  S.  Francisci,  ditto,  ed.  by  Amoni. 
Vita  di  San  Francesco,  A.  Cristofani. 

St.  Francis  in  Art 

Architecture,  Painting  and  Printing  at  Suhiaco,  Dr.  Croke. 
Characteristics  of  Saints  in  Art,  Abbe  Cahier. 
Monastic  Orders,  The,  Mrs.  Jameson. 


A  SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  241 

On  the  Authentic  Portraiture  of  St.  Francis  of  Assist,  N.  H. 

J.  Westlake. 
Storia  delta  Basilica  e  del  Convento  di  San  Francesco,  P. 

Giuseppe  Fratini. 
Umbrian  Towns,  The,  J.  W.  and  A.  M.  Cruikshank. 


16 


INDEX 


Actus,  113. 

Agnes,  Clare's  sister,  121,  126. 

Albigenses,  the,  11,  106. 

Alexander  III.,  Pope,  22,  25,  26, 
45,  63. 

Alkhamil,  Sultan  of  Egypt,  152. 

Almuazzam,  Sultan  of  Syria,  152. 

Alverna,  Monte,  given  to  Francis, 
130,  131;  his  first  visit  to,  135, 
136 ;  his  second  visit  to,  146, 
157  ;  his  last  visit,  176-183  ; 
journey  to,  177,  178;  fast  at, 
179-1S1  ;  stigmata  bestowed  at, 
181 ;  farewell  to,  182,  183. 

Ancona,  129,  136,  151. 

Angeli,  Santa  Maria  degli,  81  ; 
leper  settlement  near,  89 ;  Mass 
at,  92,93,  115,  124;  pardon  of, 
139,  140;  Ugolino  at,  141  ;  re- 
turn of  Francis  from  Monte 
Alverna  to,  184;  journey  from 
Vescovado  to,  201,  202 ;  Jacopa 
dei  Settisoli  at,  202,  203  ;  death 
of  Francis  at,  206  ;  first  plan  of 
Elias  regarding,  208  ;  Andrea 
della  Robbia  s  figure  of  Francis 
at,  235,  236. 

Angelico,  Fra,  233,  234. 

Angelo,  Brother,  1S2,  192,200,205. 

Aquilino,  Bishop,  43. 

Aginaldo,  Abbot,  45. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  11,  22-25. 

Arnolfo,  232. 

Assisi,  30 ;  history  of,  35-47 ;  Fran- 
cis born  at,  48 ;  last  imperial 
ceremony  at,  60,  61 ;  at  war  with 
Perugia,  64-66  ;  Francis  in- 
fluential in,  94,  95  ;  compact 
between  nobles  and  people  at, 
113  ;  Francis  returns  to,  191  ; 
podesta  of,  191-193  ;  Francis 
leaves,  201 ;  blesses,  202 ;  his 
body  borne  to,  206,  207 ;  Cima- 
bue  in,  224,  225 ;  Giotto  in,  226- 
232;  St.  Francis,  patron  of,  237. 


(243) 


Assisi,  Bishop  of,  80, 84-86, 94 ;  for- 
bade Francis  to  preach,  100;  in 
Rome,  105 ;  Francis  in  palace 
of,  191-201  ;  reconciled  to  po- 
desta, 193. 

Augu-tine,  St.,  rule  of,  148. 

Aventius,  Bishop,  42. 


Bagnara,  Francis  at,  190. 

Bardi,  chapel  of  the,  pictures  in, 

232,  233. 
Bastia,  38,  65,  124  ;  John  of,  132. 
Benedict,  St.,  6-9,  56,  116,  148. 
Berardelli,  Padre,  164. 
Bernard,  Brother,  95,  96,  98,  loi, 

19S;  persecution  of,  199. 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  11,  22,  24. 
Bernardone,    Pier,   47-50,    55,   56, 

59.  63,  73.  74.  79.  81-85,  90. 
Bevagna,  38,  115,  134,  135,  234. 
Beviglie,  74,  76. 
Bologna,  155-157,  166. 
Bonaventura,    St.,    190  ;    life    of 

Francis    by,   227;    chapel  over 

infirmary  hut  given  by,  235. 
Bono,  Giovanni,  88,  89,  199. 
Brescia,  23. 
Brienne,  Walter  of,  70. 


Caesar  of  Speyer  joins  the  Order. 
146;  returns  with  Francis  from 
Palestine,  155  ;  assists  Francis 
with  new  rule,  162  ;  sent  to 
Germany,  166. 

Canticle  of  the  Sun,  186,  187,  192, 
200. 

Capanna,  Puccio,  229. 

Capocci,  33. 

Caracci,  Agostino,  236. 

Carceri,  the,  117,  118. 

Cathari,  the,  32. 

Cattani,  Orlando  dei,  130,  176, 
183. 


244 


INDEX 


Cattani,  Pietro  dei,  155,  160,  161  ; 
death  of,  166. 

Cavallini,  229. 

Celano,  Tomaso  di,  133,  199,  214. 

Celestine  III.,  Pope,  28,  29. 

Cesena,  88. 

Charlemagne,  43. 

Chiaggio,  the  river,  39,  115. 

Christopher,  Brother,  in  Gas- 
cony,  151. 

Cigoli,  236. 

Cimabue,  218,  224,  225. 

Citta  di  Castello,  Francis  at,  184. 

Civita  Castellana,  26. 

Clare,  St.,  121-127;  madesuperior 
at  San  Damiano,  128  ;  Cardinal 
Ugolino  and,  154  ;  letter  from 
Francis  to,  155,  156  ;  Francis 
visits,  185,  186;  asks  permission 
[  to  see  Francis,  200 ;  his  body 
brought  to  San  Damiano,  207. 

Clement  III.,  Pope,  28. 

Collis  Inferni,  209,  211  ;  name 
changed,  214. 

Collistrada,  leper  settlement  at, 
91. 

Colombo,  Monte,  167, 168, 173-175- 

Colonna,  Cardinal,  105-107,  137. 

Conrad  of  Liit^^en,  47,  60,  6r. 

Cristofani,  Antonio,  37. 

Cyprus,  151. 


Damiano,  San,  78,  80-82,  84,  8g, 
117,    I26-I7.8,  132;    Ugolino  at, 

,.  154;  Francis  at,  185,  186;  din- 
ticle  of  the  Sun  composed  at, 
186,  187;  body  brought  to,  207. 

Damietta,  Francis  at,  151,  152. 

Decretal  epistles,  21. 

Dominic,  St.,  in  Rome,  137,  144; 
present  at  Chapter  of  Mats,  147, 
149;  in  Rome,  1G5;  his  parting 
from  Francis,  166;  death,  %b. 

Donation  of  Constantine,  21. 

Duke  of  Athens,  Walter,  229. 


Egidio,  Brother,  95,  97,  98,  loi, 
119,  151. 

Elias,  Brother,  67,  74 ;  joms  the 
Order,  130,  133,  134,  138;  sent 
to  Holy  Land,  142;  news  from, 
150;  wins  Caesar  of  Speyer, 
146,  147 ;  at  St.  Jean  d'Acre, 
151 ;  returns  with  Francis,  155  ; 
made  Minister-General,  166;  in 
power,  167  ;  loses  new  Rule,  ib. ; 


at  Monte  Colombo,  168 ;  with 
Francis  at  Foligno,  184,  185  ;  at 
Siena,  190;  |during  last  illness 
of  Francis,'  195,  196,  199  ; 
treatment  of  "  Testament,"  203  ; 
present  at  breaking  of  bread, 
205  ;  preparations  for  funeral 
of  Francis,  206  ;  letter  after 
death  of  Francis,  207,  208  ; 
church  planned  by,  208,  209, 
210;  building  of  San  Francesco, 
211-213,  215  ;  concealment  of 
saint's  body,  217;  under  a  cloud, 
218  ;  restored  to  favour,  ib. ; 
churches  resumed,  ib.  ;  sets 
fresco-painters  to  work,  220. 
Eugenius  III.,  Pope,  22. 


Filipo  of  Campello,  Brother, 
helps  Elias  in  planning  and 
building  San  Francesco,  212, 
213,  215. 

Ftoretfi,  the,  113. 

Fiume,  Ortolana  dei,  121,  127. 

Florence,  30  ;  Ugolino  and  Francis 
at,  142,  143;  frescoes  by  Giotto 
at,  232,  233;  by  Ghirlandajo  at, 

235- 

Foligno,  45,  68,  69, 125,  141 ;  Fran- 
cis and  Elias  at,  184,  190. 

Francis,  27,  30,  34,  35,  40  ;  birth 
of,  48 ;  parentage  of,  48,  49  ; 
baptism  of,  55  ;  "  F'rancesco," 
tb. ;  lessons  learned  from  Pica 
by,  56,  57  ;  education  in  San 
Giorgio,  57,  58  ;  fastidious- 
ness, 58-60;  as  citizen,  62-65; 
prisoner  in  Perugia,  65,  66  ; 
release,  66  ;  illness,  68,  69  ; 
visions,  71,  72 ;  conversion,  72- 
76;  amongst  the  lepers,  77,  78; 
at  St.  Peter's,  79;  the  crucifix 
of  San  Damiano,  80,  81  ;  re- 
nunciation, 84,  85 ;  at  the  Be- 
nedictine Monastery,  87  ;  at 
Gubbio,  ib.  ;  Cesena,  88,  89  ; 
return  to  San  Damiano,  89;  re- 
storation of  churches,  89,  92; 
commissioned  to  preach,  92,93  ; 
influence  in  Assisi,  94,  95;  first 
followers,  95  ;  Gospel  Rule, 
96,  97  ;  first  settlement,  98  ; 
missions  to  March  of  Ancona 
and  Tuscany,  ib.  ;  crisis,  99, 
100;  forbidden  to  preach,  100; 
mission  to  Tuscany,  101-103 ; 
goes  to   Rome  with  followers. 


INDEX 


245 


103-105 ;  interviews  with  Inno- 
cent III.,  105-108;  authority  to 
preach  granted,  108  ;  return 
journey,  109;  at  Orte,  no,  in; 
Rivo  Torto,  111-115  ;  settle- 
ment at  the  Portiuncula,  115, 
116;  the  Carceri,  117,  118;  in- 
crease of  followers,  119,  120; 
Clare's  adhesion,  121-127  ;  fail- 
ure of  first  foreign  mission, 
129  ;  Monte  Alverna  granted 
to,  130,  131 ;  failure  of  second 
foreign  mission,  131,  132  ;  at 
Cannara  and  Bevagna,  131, 135  ; 
sermon  to  birds,  ib.,  ib.  ;  at 
Monte  Alverna,  135,  136;  itine- 
rary, 136;  "God's  Minstrels," 
136,  137 ;  in  Perugia,  137  ; 
Cardinal  Ugolino  and,  137-139; 
the  Pardon,  139,  14);  Cardinal 
Ugolino  at  the  Portiuncula, 
141 ;  forbidden  to  go  to  France, 
143  ;  preaches  before  Pope 
Honorius  III.,  144  ;  Dominic 
and,  144,  145;  at  Subiaco,  145, 
146  ;  murmurs  at  Chapter  of 
1218,  147-149  ;  Dominic  at 
Chapter,  ib.,  ib.;  missions  of 
i2ig,  150,  151;  goes  to  Holy 
Land,  151  ;  innovations  in 
Order,  152-155;  returns,  155  ;  at 
Bologna,  156,  157  ;  at  Camaldoli 
with  Ugolino,  157,  158;  accepts 
Ugolino  as  Protector  of  Order, 
ij8,  159;  Ne\v'  Rule,  158-164; 
resignation,  161  ;  Rule  for  Ter- 
tiaries,  164,  165 ;  parting  from 
Dominic,  166;  disappearance  of 
Rule,  167;  at  Monte  Colombo, 
167, 168  ;  answer  to  malcontents, 
168  ;  revolution  of  Order  by 
Ugolino,  168-172  ;  in  Rome,  173, 

174  ;  at  Lateran  with  Rule  of 
1223,  ib. ;  returns  to  Monte  Co- 
lombo, 174  ;   his  Praesepio,  174, 

175  ;  mission  sent  to  P^ngland, 
176;  leaves  for  Monte  Alverna, 
ib. ;  journey  thither,  177,  178; 
fasting  and  prayer,  179,  180  ; 
Benediction  of  Brother  Leo, 
180  ;  the  stigmata,  181  ;  his 
adieu  to  Monte  Alverna,  182; 
return  to  Santa  Maria  degli 
Angeli,  183,  184  ;  Umbrian  mis- 
sion and  illness,  184  ;  visit  to  San 
Damiano  and  Canticle  of  the 
Sun,  185-187;  at  Rieti,  187-189; 
preaching  in  the  Valley  of  Rieti, 


187 ;  at  Siena,  189, 190 ;  returns  to 
Assisi,  190-192;  makes  peace  at 
Assisi,i92,i93;  protracted  illness, 
194-206;  distress  about  future  of 
Order,  195,  196;  letter  to  Order, 
195-198;  incidents  of  illness  at 
Vescovado,  198-201  ;  leaves  for 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  201  ; 
blesses  Assisi,  202  ;  at  Infirmary 
Hut,  ib.  ;  his  Testament,  203, 
204;  Jacopa  dei  Settisoli  visits, 
204,  205  ;  breaking  of  bread,  205  ; 
last  hours,  206;  body  borne  to 
San  Giorgio,  206,  207;  halt  at 
San  Damiano,  207;  canonised  by 
Pope  Gregory  IX.,  213,  214  ; 
body  transferred  to  San  Fran- 
cesco, 216,  217  ;  earliest  por- 
traits of,  220-223  ;  frescoes  of 
life,  227,  228,  233-235 ;  allegories 
of  work,  229-232. 

Fratini,  Father,  229. 

Frederick,  Barbarossa,  22,  25,  28, 
31.47- 

Frederick  II.,  31,  60,  61,  114,  150. 


Gaddi,  Taddeo,  229. 

Garofalo,  236. 

Giorgio,  San,  school  in  church  of, 
46,  57,  81  ;  Francis  preaches  in, 
93,  121 ;  body  of  Francis  borne 
to,  206,  207 ;  crowds  at,  208, 
209;  ceremonial  at,  213. 

Giotto,  218  ;  his  work  at  San 
Francesco,  226-232  ;  at  Santa 
Croce  in  Florence,  232,  233. 

Giunta  Pisano,  220-222. 

Gozzoli,  Benozzo,  frescoes  by, 
233.  234. 

Greccio,  John  of,  174 ;  Francis 
at,  189. 

Gregory  of  Naples,  Brother,  154, 
156. 

Gregory  I.,  Pope,  8,  10. 

Gregory  VII.,  Pope,  18-20. 

Gregory  VIII.,  Pope,  27. 

Gregory  IX.,  Pope,  Ugolino 
became,  210;  Elias  ard,  21  t  ; 
builds  chapel  at  Subiaco,  212; 
Bull  regarding  church  of  San 
Francesco,  213  ;  Francis  ca- 
nonised by,  213,  214;  appoints 
new  church  Metropolitan  of 
Order,  215;  legates  and  gifts 
from,  216,  217;  Bull,  (^nu  Elon- 
gati,  by,  211. 

Gubbio,  Francis  at,  87,  190. 


246 


INDEX 


Guelfucci,  Pacifica  dei,  124,  127. 
Guiscard,  Robert,  20. 


Hadrian  IV.,  Pope,  22,  24,  25. 

Henry  HI.,  Emperor,  17,  25 

Henry  IV.,  Emperor,  20. 

Henry  VI.,  Emperor,  27-30. 

Honorius  III.,  Pope,  at  Perugia, 
137-139  ;  grants  Francis  the 
"Pardon,"  139,  140;  at  Rieti, 
150;  in  Viterbo,  153  ;  in  Orvieto, 
158;  Francis  and,  158,  159; 
Rule  of  1223  sanctioned  by, 
173;  at  Rieti,  185. 

Hugo,  bishop  of  Assisi,  45. 


Illuminato,  Brother,  182. 
Innocent  III.,  Pope,  11,  29-35,  61, 

70,  106-108,  no,  125,  137. 
Innocent  IV.,  Pope,  at  Assisi,  224. 


Jacopa  dei  Settisoli  visits  Francis, 

202,  203. 
Jacques  de  Vitry,  137,  152. 
Jerome,  St.,  6. 
John  XII.,  Pope,  16. 


Legnano,  battle  of,  46. 

Lempp,  Dr.,  Biographical  Study 
of  Bvother  Elias  by,  74. 

Leo,  Brother,  irg,  130,  134, 
140 ;  benediction  written  by 
Francis  for,  180-182,  192,  198- 
200,  205;  busy  with  Mirror  of 
Perfection,  210  ;  oppo«-ed  to 
Elias,  210,  211;  Celano's  Life 
opposed  to  Mirror,  2:4,  215. 

Leo,  Pope,  8,  16. 

Lorenzetti,  2:5,  226. 

Lochaire,  Emperor,  8. 

Louis,  King,  of  France,  portrait 
of,  233. 

Lucca,  30. 

Lucius  II.,  Pope,  22. 

Lucius  III.,  Pope,  27,  54. 


Maccabeo,  Abbot,  115,  117,  118, 
126. 

Majano,  Benedetto  da,  235. 

Map,  Bishop  Walter,  53.  54. 

Maria  Maggiore,  Santa,  Piazza  of, 
84 ;  church  of,  old  bell  in,  78, 
inscription  on  apse  of,  94. 


Martini,  Simone,  229. 
Martino,  Brother,  229. 
Masseo,  Brother,  182,  192. 
Matilda,  Countess,  31,  45, 
Matthew,  Brother,  154. 
Maximian,  Emperor,  41. 
Milan,  32. 
Mirror  of  Perfection,  198,  210,  214, 

215. 
Mojano,  Porta,  38,  124,  207. 
Monastery,    Benedictine,  44,   71, 

87,  115,  117,  126,  127. 
Montefalco,  frescoes  at,  234,  235. 
Montefeltro,  castle  of,  Francis  at, 

130. 
Morocco,  mission  to,  151. 
Muro,  Giovanni  da,  226,  228,  231. 


Naples,  34. 

Narni,  61. 

Nicholas  II,,  Pope,  18. 

Nicholas,  St.,  church  of,  96,  97. 

Nocera,  64,  190,  191,  199. 

Norcia,  6. 


Odo,  Count,  33. 

Orte,  Francis  at,  no,  in. 

Orvieto,  Honorius  and  Francis  at, 

158,  234. 
Otho   of   Saxony,    16,  17,   25,  34, 

113- 


Pacifico,  Brother,  136,  137,  142; 
sent  to  France,  143,  144,  176, 
187. 

Palladio,  37. 

Paolo,  St.  Clare  taken  to  San,  124. 

Parenti,  Giovanni,  made  minister- 
general,  210;  Elias  and,  211, 
216;  re-elected,  218. 

Patarins,  the,  32,  106. 

Perugia,  30,  45,  64-66,  68,  94  ;  In- 
nocent at,  137  ;  Honorius  at,  ii)., 
139,  141. 

Peter  of  Assisi,  95. 

Pica,  Madonna,  40,  49,  50,  56-58, 
63,71.  79.83.90.91- 

Pietro,  San,  church  of,  45,  78. 

Poggio  Buscone,  F'rancis  at,  189. 

Portiuncula,  the,  56,  57,  78  ;  leper 
settlements  near,  89, 91;  Francis 
at,  98,  103  ;  granted  to  Francis, 
115;  settlement  at,  115,  116; 
Clare  received  at,  124,  129,  131, 
153- 


INDEX 


247 


Ravenna,  44. 

Rieti,  Honorius  at,  185  ;  Francis 

at,  187-1S9. 
Rivo     Torto,      first     Franciscan 

settlement  at,  111-115. 
Robbia,  Andrea  della,  235. 
Romagna,  29,  83. 
Romualdo,    San,    at    Camaldoli, 

Francis   and    Ugolino  at,   157, 

158. 
Rufino,  Brother,  119,  192. 
Rufino,  San,  39;  church  of,  45, 55. 


Sabatier,  M.,  49,  113,  120, 123,  138, 

163,  164.  175. 
St.  Jean  d'Acre,  151,  155. 
Salvatore,  San,  delle  Pareti,  124. 
Sant'  Eleuterio,  Francis  at,  i8g. 
Sasso  Rosso,  castle  of,  55,  71,  121, 

191. 
Savino.  San,  40,  41 ;  church  of,  45. 
Sciffi,  Favorino  degli,  65,  121,  122, 

126. 
Siegfried,  42. 
Siena,  Francis  at,  i8g. 
Spadalunga,  87. 
Spagna,  Lo,  235,  236. 
Spoleto,  29,  30,  43-45,  60,  6q,  71. 
Stacia,  Pietro,  156. 
Stigmata,  the,  181. 
Subasio,  Monte,  36,  43,  44,  6g,  71, 

86,   87,  III,  115,  117,  132,  135, 

234- 
Subiaco,  Francis  at,  145  ;  portrait 

at,  145,  146;  churches  at,  212. 
Sylvestro,  Brother,  96,  119,  123, 

1&2. 


Tertiaries,  Rule  for  the,  164,  165. 
Tescio,  the  river.  115. 
Thrasymene,  Lake,  Lent  at,  130. 


Topino,  the  river,  115,  135,  igo. 
Totila,  42. 

Tuscuium,  28,  29. 


Ugolino,  Cardinal,  120, 137;  patron 
of  Order,  138,  139;  at  Whitsun- 
tide Chapter,  140,  141  ;  at  Flor- 
ence,   142,    143 ;    Dominic  and, 

144  ;  at  Chapter  of  Mats,  147- 
149 ;  builds  chapel  at  Subiaco, 

145  ;  gradual  victory  over  Fran- 
cis, 150-158;  his  friendship  for 
Clare,  154;  at  Bologna,  156;  at 
Camaldoli  with  Francis,  157, 
158  ;  and  new  Rule,  163 ;  con- 
cerned with  Mendicant  Orders, 
165  ;  revolution  of  Order  by, 
166-172,  173;  letter  to  Francis 
from,  185 ;  management  of 
Francis,  196 ;  became  Pope 
Gregory  IX.,  210. 

Umbria,  6,  35-37,  39,  43,  44,  46,  ii9t 

141.  184. 
Urban  IIL,  Pope,  27. 


Venice,  Peace  of,  25,  26 ;  markets 

at,  50;  Francis  at,  155. 
Venustiano,  the  Prefect,  40,  41. 
Verona,  27. 

Viterbo,  32,  33,  80,  153,  159. 
Vittorino,  San,  39. 


Waldensians,  the,  52-55. 

Waldo,  Peter,  11 ;  account  of,  50- 

54.  76. 
Wesley,  John,  54. 


Ziani,  Sebastian,  26. 
Zurburan,  236,  237. 


THE   ABERDEEN    UWIVERSITV   PRESS   LIMITED 


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932.3F 
B551 


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o 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


0035518502 


